Study measured financial impact of car emissions on deaths, health and lost working days in 432 urban areas
Stefano ValentinoWed 21 Oct 2020 07.00 BST
The health costs of air pollution from roads are higher in London than any other city in Europe, a study has found.
Two other urban areas in the UK, Manchester and the West Midlands, have the 15th and 19th highest costs respectively among the 432 European cities analysed.
The research puts a figure on the social costs of car emissions at local level at an unprecedented number of sites across 30 countries – the EU27 plus the UK, Norway and Switzerland.
The costs measure the overall erosion of public welfare, defined as living a long and healthy life in a clean environment. The research quantifies the monetary value of premature death, hospital treatment, lost working days and other health costs caused by particulate matter, ozone and nitrogen dioxide. Indoor air pollution was not taken into account.
New ride hailing biz finds electric scooter hire preferred to taxis – Cycle Industry News
Mark Sutton14 October, 2020
Advertisements for new ride hailing app Bolt are now present in many of London’s tube stations, but increasingly it’s the firm’s electric scooter hire that customers are seeking for short journeys.
Research by the firm, whose electric scooter hire arm is not yet in the UK, has found that 50.4% of the 1,800 customers surveyed would choose an electric scooter over a private-hire vehicle for journeys ranging up to five miles in distance.
Iranian woman arrested for ‘cycling without hijab’ | The Guardian
Unnamed cyclist in Najafabad detained for breaking Islamic law on veils for women
Agence France-PresseLast modified on Tue 20 Oct 2020 21.22 BST
A young woman has been arrested in central Iran for “insulting the Islamic hijab”, state media said on Tuesday, after a video appeared to show her cycling without a veil.
“A person who had recently violated norms and insulted the Islamic veil in this region has been arrested,” Mojataba Raei, the governor of Najafabad, told the IRNA news agency.
Climate science deniers to give road safety evidence to MPs | The Guardian
Campaign group the Alliance of British Drivers wants higher speed limits and fewer cycle lanes
MPs are to hear evidence on road safety from a campaign group that dismisses warnings about global heating and wants higher speed limits and fewer cycle lanes, prompting alarm from environmental and active travel organisations.
The Commons transport committee will take oral evidence on Wednesday from the Alliance of British Drivers (ABD), which says it represents mainstream views but accepts its membership is “tiny” as a proportion of drivers.
The ABD’s formal position is that human-created global heating is a myth, and that many concerns about the health impact of vehicle pollution represent “scaremongering”.
ABD’s policies include raising all speed limits to 85% of actual average speeds and abolishing urban 20mph zones. It believes that cycling and walking are “not a credible transport policy”.
In May, the ABD’s official Twitter feed argued that the UN and other groups “have been captured by One World Global Marxist sympathisers, whose gradual aim is to gradually pauperise and depopulate the west and the developing world”.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo To Make Good On Pledge To Remove Half Of City’s Car Parking Spaces – Forbes
Carlton Reid09:06am EDT
As part of her campaign to be re-elected as Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo pledged to carve out more space on the streets of her adopted city for pedestrians and cyclists. She said she would do this, in large part, by removing car parking spaces.
On January 29, Hidalgo revealed at an election hustings (the first round of voting took place in March) that the space required to make Paris more people friendly would come at the expense of motoring. She told electors she would remove the great majority of the on-street car parking spaces in Paris. And despite car parking being the supposed “third rail” of urban politics—touch it at your peril—she comfortably won a second term.
Best Practices: How Seville Became a City of Cyclists – Streetsblog USA
This article will appear in Transportation Alternatives’ Vision Zero Cities Journal as part of the
What the Vision Zero Movement Can Learn from Car Commercials | by TransAlt | Vision Zero Cities Journal | Oct, 2020 | Medium
Car Ad Executive Turned Bike Advocate Tells All
For many years, I worked in the automotive sector of the advertising industry. Then, I started riding a bike with my kids to school and finally stopped drinking the car culture Kool-Aid.
But what I learned making and selling car ads has value. The Vision Zero movement could learn a lot from the marketing practices of the auto industry. As we seek to transform streets and drive traffic deaths down to zero, we can take cues from how cars are sold.
Extend London congestion charge zone to Clapham and Catford, TfL told | The Guardian
Sadiq Khan says government’s proposals to plug capital’s Covid-ravaged finances are ‘not right’
Gwyn TophamFri 16 Oct 2020 17.23 BST
Londoners would be “punished” by proposals including having to pay £15 to drive in the suburbs, the mayor has claimed, after talks on a fresh funding settlement for the capital in the face of Covid-19 failed to reach agreement.
Negotiations for a settlement for Transport for London will continue after the government offered to extend the existing £1.6bn bailout terms for two more weeks, just before a deadline to avert financial collapse.
More Low Traffic Suburbs – The Ranty Highwayman
It’s simply wonderful to see Low Traffic Neighbourhoods spreading across the UK, although at least in my part of the world, I wish I did’t have to cycle quite to far to find one. Hot on the heels of the LTNs in Redbridge starting to be rolled out, another interesting scheme is running.
UK bans any use of mobile phones while driving | The Guardian
Government updates law to ban drivers from using phone in any way, not just calling and texting
Drivers who use hand-held phones in any way behind the wheel will face £200 fines and possible bans when changes in the law take account of smartphones.
While making calls or texting on a hand-held mobile while driving is already illegal, taking photos, scrolling through a playlist or even playing games on phones has not been outlawed until now – allowing drivers to escape charges when spotted with a phone.