Summary Transcript
Today we have a story about the sometimes obvious but sometimes sneaky effects of the way that we humans rearrange the elemental stuff around us. Reporter Avir Mitra and science journalist Lydia Denworth bring us a story about how one man’s relentless pursuit of a deep truth about the Earth led to an obsession that really changed the very air we breathe.
The dirty dozen: meet America’s top climate villains | Georgia Wright, Liat Olenick and Amy Westervelt | The Guardian
Amy Westervelt
For too long, Americans were fed a false narrative that they should feel individually guilty about the climate crisis. The reality is that only a handful of powerful individuals bear the personal responsibility.
The nation’s worst polluters managed to evade accountability and scrutiny for decades as they helped the fossil fuel industry destroy our planet. The actions of these climate supervillains have affected millions of people, disproportionately hurting the vulnerable who have done the least to contribute to global emissions.
Ryan’s Law: Widen definition of ‘death by dangerous driving’ – Petitions – Parliament will debate this petition
Petitions
UK Government and Parliament
Closed petition
Ryan’s Law: Widen definition of ‘death by dangerous driving’
The offence of causing ‘death by dangerous driving’ should be widened to include: failure to stop, call 999 and render aid on scene until further help arrives.
This petition is closed All petitions run for 6 months
Parliament will debate this petition on 15 November 2021.
You’ll be able to watch online on the UK Parliament YouTube channel.
This response was given on 24 March 2021
It is unacceptable for drivers to fail to stop and report an incident. However, the offence should not be used to punish an offender for a serious, but unproven, offence.
Floating Bus Stops – The Ranty Highwayman
One thing which seems to come up time and again in street design is as soon as a concept gains a name, it also gains controversy which ends up drowning out the voices of people who might have genuine concerns to work through.
So, what is a “floating bus stop” (also known as a bus stop bypass)? It’s simply a bus stop which has a carriageway or a cycle track running behind it so that people board or alight a bus from what is essentially either a large traffic island or perhaps something which looks like central reserve.
How greener streets can lead to healthier cities | Cities | The Guardian
Study finds benefits in reclaiming urban space from traffic and creating more green spaces
Gary Fuller
Headlines in the run up to Cop26 have promised new technologies, including electric cars, flying taxis and heat pumps to warm our homes. But we can do more – starting with the streets around us.
Jon Burke, a decarbonisation policy consultant, has likened the private motor vehicle to an invasive species. It grows to dominate our transport systems, choking out alternatives, and erodes the diverse social fabric of neighbourhoods. While electric vehicles will reduce climate-changing emissions and exhaust pollution, they will not relieve our congested roads and will not tackle air pollution from tyres, brakes and road wear.
March) Government rejects “Ryan’s Law” petition on killer hit-and-run drivers | road.cc
Petition called on failing to dial 999 or to render aid to be incorporated within causing death by dangerous driving
Simon MacMichael Mar 26, 2021
The DfT says it has no plans to widen the definition of causing death by dangerous driving to include “failure to stop, call 999 and render aid on scene until further help arrives,” despite a petition calling for such changes under the name of “Ryan’s Law” attracting 45,000 signatures,
The petition is named after Ryan Saltern, who was walking along a road in Cornwall on his way to a party when motorist Wayne Shilling crashed into him then drove off and left him to die.
At trial, Shilling, who had been drinking at a carnival – one witness, according to a BBC report
, said he was “away with the fairies” – claimed he had not been aware he had hit anyone, although the crash punctured his car’s radiator.
App works out cost savings of leaving the car at home – transportxtra
App works out cost savings of leaving the car at home
If you’re in a hole… it must be time to rethink Stonehenge – TransportXtra
Updated values would reveal the true cost of building a tunnel under Stonehenge, says Phil Goodwin. He urges National Highways to think again
Stonehenge is one of our most important monuments, and a much-loved iconic image of our history. Thoughtlessly, its wonderfully skilled builders placed it in an awkward position, obstructing plans for a big road project, whose need, National Highways argue, is demonstrated by their cost benefit study. A tunnel would protect the monument from traffic, and it would fit into the road builders’ plan to increase speeds, section by section, on the present road.
The problem is that tunnels are very expensive to build, and the money value of the projected time savings would not nearly cover the cost.
‘Beauty’ alone won’t solve the climate crisis – Transport for New Homes
May 24, 2021
This guest blog by Cycling UK’s policy director Roger Geffen argues that the Government’s draft National Planning Policy Framework makes it commendably easy for councils to reject planning applications which aren’t ‘beautiful’, but creates massive hurdles for councils wishing to reject developments that would entrench car-dependence. The blog was first published on the Cycling UK website.
“The Government is strongly in favour of ‘beauty’. And who wouldn’t be? I certainly am. It’s one of those motherhood-and-apple-pie things that surely everyone agrees with.
BBC Radio 4 – A Point of View, Car Hatred – Will Self
:excerptstart Car Hatred 29/10/21 A Point of ViewWill Self argues that the car is anything but a source of freedom. While drivers think it gives them the ability to go anywhere, in truth ‘they’re shackled to a grotesque and Sisyphean go-round: they have to make the money, to pay for the car, to sit in the traffic jam, to make the money… [Read More]
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