Joe Cortright
How we embrace socialism for car storage in the public right of way
Comrades, rejoice: In the face of the counter-revolutionary neo-liberal onslaught, there’s at least one arena where the people’s inalienable rights reign supreme: parking.
We may not be able to make health care a right or make housing a right, but the one place the revolution has plainly succeeded in usurping the market is in the case of parking.
Lower Thames Crossing is hugely destructive and not fit for purpose
Laura Blake dismantles National Highways’ case for the proposed Lower Thames Crossing. The scheme would fail to meet every one of its objectives, be it on economic benefits, resilience, safety, congestion or the environment, she argues
The original task of a new crossing between Kent and Essex was to fix the congestion and pollution problems at the Dartford Crossing. It has since morphed into being about economic growth, and new connections between ports in the South East to the Midlands and beyond.
The proposed Lower Thames Crossing has seven scheme objectives, all of which it would fail to meet.
Pollutionwatch: how ‘school streets’ cut children’s exposure to toxic air | Pollution | The Guardian
Gary Fuller
In 2019, a study of more than 2,000 schoolchildren in east London showed that those in the most polluted places were growing smaller lungs. This year, an evidence review by the US Health Effects Institute showed strong links between traffic pollution and children’s asthma.
So, should air pollution be a factor in choosing your child’s school? In 2019, 248 pupils were given an air pollution rucksack to wear for a week. As well as space for their belongings it contained a small device to measure what they breathed.
“Analysis by Greener Journeys found that the fuel duty freeze has cost HM Treasury £50 billion in lost income – Jon Owen – Twitter
Analysis by Greener Journeys found that the fuel duty freeze has cost HM Treasury £50 billion in lost income, has led to 5% more traffic, 250 million fewer bus journeys, 75 million fewer rail journeys, an extra 5 million tonnes of CO₂ and an extra 15,000 tonnes of NOx emissions.
Cycling is so dangerous now, my children have had to stop | Karen Murphy | The Guardian
During those long pandemic days, when we had nowhere to go and nowhere to be, my kids and I used to hit the road on our bikes. We would head out on a brand new cycle lane that popped up on a high-traffic road in Shoreham-by-Sea, where we live, as part of government measures to help more people walk and cycle during the pandemic. We would nip to the shops, down to the river or to the local library, and weekend activities were interspersed with quick rides. At the height of the Covid restrictions, taking off spontaneously as a family offered us a sense of freedom that felt liberating.
Cyclist turned away from Parliament green transport event… because Brompton bike is a security risk | road.cc
The official Parliament website says that only non-folding bicycles are not allowed in the Houses of Parliament
When the editor of shipping industry publication Lloyd’s List, whose day job involves reporting the decarbonisation of global maritime trade, arrived at the Houses of Parliament on Thursday evening for a launch event for a new tidal-powered port he had little worry his own green transport — a Brompton folding bicycle — would be a problem.
Sajid Javid blames father of five-year-old cyclist for letting child ride on road in viral video | road.cc
The former Chancellor of the Exchequer is the latest Conservative politician to weigh in on the controversial clip
Sajid Javid has become the latest Conservative politician to weigh in on the viral video – discussed during Tuesday’s episode of Jeremy Vine’s Channel 5 show and viewed almost 2.5 million times on Twitter – which shows a motorist failing to stop before narrowly passing a five-year-old cyclist.
The former Chancellor of the Exchequer, who has also served as the Home Secretary and Secretary of State for Health and Social Care during his time in government, joined Tory peer Baroness Foster and Conservative London Assembly leader Susan Hall in pointing the finger at the child’s father for letting him cycle on the road in the first place.
LCC updates Dangerous Junctions campaign | London Cycling Campaign
November 16, 2022
Junctions: a key LCC focus
London Cycling Campaign (LCC) has now launched separate campaigns around three of the most dangerous junction systems in London: King’s Cross, the Shoreditch Triangle and Holborn.
These three junctions head a list of over 20 central London junctions requiring urgent action, identified in the initial phase of LCC’s Dangerous Junctions campaign; a list that it is now announced will be updated and expanded in the second phase of the campaign, early in the new year.
Noise cameras to be trialled in England to tackle ‘boy racers’ | Transport policy | The Guardian
Aina J Khan
Noise-detecting traffic cameras will be trialled in four areas in England in an attempt to crack down on “boy racers” who rev engines and use illegal exhausts, the Department for Transport has announced.
The so-called noise cameras will be installed on the roadside in Bradford on Tuesday, before a rollout in Bristol, Great Yarmouth and Birmingham over the next two months.
A video camera will photograph vehicles and several microphones will record sound to help identify road users who break the law by revving their engines unnecessarily or use illegal exhausts as they drive by.
The technology – in which the government has pledged to invest £300,000 and tested on a private track – will be used to create a digital package of evidence that can be used by police to fine drivers.
Make public transport free for under 25s, says Wales future – transport xtra
In a bid to future-proof against cost of living emergencies, public transport should be made free for under 25s, says the future generations commissioner for Wales Sophie Howe.
Other measures proposed by Howe include expanding the basic income pilot to pay more people enough to meet their daily needs.
Howe urged the Welsh Government to explore how it can offer short and long-term protection against the cost of living and the climate and nature emergencies.