The Department of Transport should run a national public awareness campaign to educate motorists about dangerous, inappropriate and aggressive behaviours that can lead to the injury and even death of cyclists. The attitude that cyclists should not be on roads needs to end.
Three in four motorists can break the law due to a lack of policing | This is Money
Three quarters of people believe drivers can get away with a number of motoring offences because of a serious lack of traffic police officers on the roads, a new study has highlighted.
Just one in six think motorists would be caught and punished for careless driving because there aren’t enough traffic officers to police these types of crimes, a poll of more than 15,500 licence holders shows.
Similarly, just a fifth would be caught for drug driving and a quarter would be caught driving without insurance, the AA found.
Oxford Circus to be turned into pedestrian piazzas this year | The Guardian
Westminster city council said the new Elizabeth line would bring in an extra 60 million pedestrians a year, and that 70% of people travelled to Oxford Street by underground.
There will be road closures between Oxford Circus and Great Portland Street to the east and Oxford Circus and John Princes Street to the west through experimental traffic orders (ETOs). The traffic will continue along Regent Street, north and south of Oxford Circus.
Raleigh donates £42,000 of e-bikes and e-cargo bikes to National Trust – transportxtra
14 June 2021
Santander Cycles e-bike hire coming to London – transportxtra
Local Transport Today is the authoritative, independent journal for transport decision makers. Analysis, Comment & News on Transport Policy, Planning, Finance and Delivery since 1989.
Bike Hire
The first 500 Santander Cycles electric hire bikes are due to be introduced in the capital next summer. Transport for London (TfL) and Santander said the e-bikes will be able to use existing docking stations across the capital. A TfL spokesperson said that measures will be in place to ensure the bikes are safely used.
E-bikes and e-cargo bikes moving to the next level – transportxtra
Both private and public sectors are embracing e-cargo bikes and e-bikes to help meet climate change objectives
Hear more about e-cargo bike development in our free webinar, June 17, 14.30 -16.00: register here
‘Climate change is the single biggest threat to the precious landscapes and historic houses we care for,’ says the National Trust. ‘We’re tackling the causes of climate change by reducing our own emissions and, as a conservation charity, we’re always searching for greener ways to get around the places in our care.’
The Guardian view on socialism and cycling: fellow travellers | The Guardian
Editorial
Wed 16 Jun 2021
Cycling’s radical traditions are part of Britain’s social history. Recalling her teenage years in the 1890s, the great suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst wrote beautifully about the band of carefree lefties with whom she rode out of Manchester each weekend. Criss-crossing rural Lancashire and Cheshire, her cycling club was one of many associated with the Clarion, a popular socialist weekly newspaper. The more earnest socialists of the time saw this crowd as ideological dilettantes, too keen on having a good time. And their trips do seem to have been rather fun.
The APPGCW to hold an inquiry ahead of second Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy – Cycling Industry News
Liberty Sheldon 15 June, 2021
The Government published the first Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy in 2017, in a bid to increase cycling and walking activity across England, reduce the number of cyclists killed or seriously injured on the roads, and to encourage children to walk to school.
Since the strategy was published, the Government has received criticism for not matching this ambition and not providing adequate funding for cycling and walking.
Tailoring climate change messaging for conservatives could shift understanding of crisis: Study – ABC News
14 June 2021
Why climate change threatens public health
As the Earth warms, extreme weather events, increased disease risk and even compromi…
The key to easing partisanship on the topic of global warming may be in the way the messages are conveyed, according to new research.
Tailoring online messaging and advertising toward Republican voters could shift their views on climate change, a new study published Monday in Nature Climate Change suggests.
As of 2020, 73% of Americans believed that global warming was happening, and 62% think that it was caused by human activities. In 2010, only 57% of Americans thought that global warming was happening, researchers said.
But, the shift in public opinion on climate change has largely been driven by Democrats. In previous research, when asked how high of a priority global warming should be, just 22% of Republicans said it should be a “high” or “very high” priority, compared to 83% of Democrats, according to the study.
UK refuses to commit to immediate lowering of air pollution limits | The Guardian
Government accused of disregarding coroner’s words about death of Ella Kissi-Debrah, aged 9
Sandra Laville Thu 17 Jun 2021
The government has refused to commit to an immediate lowering of legal levels of air pollution as a result of the death of a nine-year-old child from toxic air.
Ella Kissi-Debrah was the first person in the UK to have air pollution listed as a cause of their death in a historic ruling by a coroner earlier this year.
The schoolgirl died after an asthma attack following multiple seizures and hospital admissions. Her death sparked calls for the immediate lowering of legal air pollution levels to bring them in line with those recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).
The WHO says particulate pollution from fine particulate matter PM2.5 should not exceed an annual mean of 10 μg/m3. For PM10 the limit is 20 µg/m3 annual mean. But the UK currently has higher limits for fine particulate matter: 40 µg/m3 annual mean for PM10 and 25 µg/m3 for PM2.5.