Unless the government takes a hands-on approach to Low Traffic Neighbourhood schemes, motor traffic will continue its upward trajectory and cycling will diminish
COVID-19 has forced the government to intervene in most spheres of life: locking down the nation, a multi-billion-pound furlough scheme, cancelling exams and closing theatres. From employment to health, education, sport, culture, and public transport, our lives have been regulated in a way we would have found unbelievable a year ago.
Legal challenge launched against national networks NPS Roads – TransportXtra
11 January 2021
Environmental activists have launched a new legal challenge against the Government’s transport policies, this time focusing on the National Policy Statement (NPS) for National Networks.
The action is being pursued by the Transport Action Network (TAN), which has been granted a separate judicial review hearing against the DfT’s Road Investment Strategy 2. That is expected to be heard in February.
The NPS for National Networks covers national road, rail and strategic rail freight…
Greta Thunberg at 18: ‘I’m not telling anyone what to do’ – The Guardian
Haroon Siddique
Sun 3 Jan 2021
“She named her ideal birthday present as a “promise from everyone that they
she opted for replacement lights for her bike.
“In Sweden, it gets very dark in winter.”
“Oh my god, it’s wonderful! More people biking than driving cars!” The Simpsons does bike lanes. – Twitter
Adam Tranter @adamtranter Jan 8, 2021
“Oh my god, it’s wonderful! More people biking than driving cars!” The Simpsons does bike lanes.
Kensington cycle tracks: council to re-consider removal – LCC
• By SimonM 4 days ago
Update, Update – Council to re-consider removal of cycle track on 17 March 2021
Homes Without Jams: join the campaign – Transport for New Homes
Homes Without Jams: join the campaign
Planning needs to be reformed. But the Government’s proposals threaten more traffic and pollution. Transport for New Homes is calling for Homes Without Jams.
Our country needs more homes. What we don’t need is more sprawling, car-dependent estates far from town centres and public transport links.
Right now, too many housing developments lack local shops and services, decent public transport and cycle routes. Some streets even lack pavements. The result is that the people who live there must drive for almost every journey: a recipe for traffic, air pollution and climate change.
Now the Government wants to reform the planning system – but its proposals threaten to make things worse. The outcome would be more big housing estates in the countryside connected by more roads.
MPs investigate zero emission vehicles and road pricing – TransportXtra
“A consequence of the transition to electric vehicles is a potential £40 billion annual fiscal black hole, due to the reduction in Fuel Duty and Vehicle Excise Duty. Something will have to change. We will be exploring whether radical road pricing or ‘pay-as-you-drive’ schemes can offer a revenue-raising solution to this problem. We will explore the practicalities of different schemes, the level of public support for them, and best practice from other countries. We will also assess whether new technologies and pricing can both be utilised to incentivise consumer behaviour change, reduce congestion and promote active travel.”
The third edition of the Sustainable Safety vision – Bicycle Dutch
Bicycle Dutch 6 January 2021
Sustainable Safety is one of the corner stones of the Dutch road safety policies. Its ultimate goal is to make traffic so safe that everybody can get home safely. Not only fit able-bodied people or drivers in protected vehicles, but every road user – the schoolchild, the commuter, the commercial driver and the active senior, whether they walk, cycle or participate in traffic in any other way. I’ve published about Sustainable Safety before, in 2012 and in 2017, but the policy was updated in 2018. That is why I want to start this year with another look at Sustainable Safety. First, I would like to wish you all the very best for this new year! I also – as you will have noticed – updated the look of my blog.
Jan 2017) Corporate fascism and the car – Ban Private Cars In London
by V Readhead
The rise of fascism in the 1930s was supported by the avantgarde movement called Futurism. It emphasised speed, technology, youth, and violence, and objects such as the car, the aeroplane, and the industrial city. The autonomous pedestrian and cyclist quickly became an irritation in the march towards futuristic progress.
It was Benito Mussolini who first favoured the elimination of autonomy in favour of corporatism. The advent of fascism welcomed and incorporated mass production of cars. Social Darwinism meant abandoning democracy, weeding out the ‘weak’ and promoting the interests of ‘successful’ businessmen, like the automobile moguls. For the fascists the superior individual drove a car and at speed, dominating public space. Mussolini was often warned, even by those in his own party, about his reckless speeding in his Alfa Romeo. “
Pollutionwatch: fine particles affect lungs of those near airports | The Guardian
Trial finds reduced lung function and heart changes in young people who exercised near Schiphol
Gary Fuller Fri 1 Jan 2021
Extinction Rebellion activists protesting against climate pollution at Schiphol airport in the Netherlands.
For seven months in 2018, a lorry trailer was parked near a runway at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport. It housed exercise bikes and air pollution measurement equipment. Twenty-one healthy young people took turns to visit the trailer for pedalling sessions. Air was funnelled from the outside as the young people exercised, and researchers monitored their heart and lung functions.
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