The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has dropped its case against a cyclist who was said to have delayed traffic by a handful of seconds as he used his helmet camera to film a driver illegally using a handheld mobile phone at the wheel in Bristol, as well as another motorist subsequently driving through a red light.
During the incident, which happened on 4 March, Tom Bosanquet spotted a driver using their mobile phone when he drew up alongside them at a set of traffic lights.
He told the motorist that using the phone at the wheel was an offence and dangerous, and while he did so an impatient van driver behind starting beeping his horn due to the delay which lasted all of 9 seconds.

Male drivers are almost three times more likely than women to be involved in road collisions that kill or seriously injure pedestrians in Great Britain, a gap that has widened over the past decade.
A Guardian analysis of government road accident and journey data shows that in 2020 and the first half of 2021, 4,363 male drivers were involved in collisions that seriously injured or killed pedestrians, compared with 1,473 female drivers.
Including trips by car, van, motorbike and in other private vehicles, this equates to 2.8 serious collisions – those involving a pedestrian being injured or killed – for every 10m journeys by men, compared with 1.04 for women.
The figures – which exclude cases where the sex of the driver was not known or recorded – show that men have been more likely to injure or kill pedestrians, going as far back as at least 2002 when comparable data on the number of journeys began being recorded.

The head of the RSPB says the bird charity is ruling nothing out as it organises a mobilisation of millions of people against what it calls the government’s “attack on nature”.

According to the poll, bike thefts rank top of the list of crimes Brits don’t expect police to look into thoroughly, ahead of mobile phone snatching, phone and internet scams, and shoplifting.
84 percent of those surveyed also believe that it is unlikely that bike thieves will be caught and convicted, with over half claiming that it is “not likely at all” that criminals stealing bicycles will be found guilty in court.
> Police failed to catch a bike thief in 87% of affected neighbourhoods in past three years 
The YouGov survey follows a report released earlier this month by the police watchdog which argued that police forces in England and Wales are failing to adequately investigate cases of burglary, robbery and theft in England and Wales. 
Recent Home Office figures show that, between March 2021 and March 2022, just 6.3 percent of robbery offences and 4.1 percent of thefts in England and Wales led to charges.

Haroon Siddique

Granting legal rights and protections to non-human entities such as animals, trees and rivers is essential if countries are to tackle climate breakdown and biodiversity loss, experts have said.
The authors of a report titled Law in the Emerging Bio Age say legal frameworks have a key part to play in governing human interactions with the environment and biotechnology.
Ecuador and Bolivia have already enshrined rights for the natural world, while there is a campaign to make ecocide a prosecutable offence at the international criminal court. The report for the Law Society, the professional body for solicitors in England and Wales, explores how the relationship between humans and mother earth might be recalibrated in the future. 

Bike lanes literally everywhere.

Amazing @Anne_Hidalgo

Mark Sutton 5 October 2022

A study of a pool of 26,000 people has discovered that around 65% of people wish to see cycling routes in towns and cities that are physically separated from motor traffic, thus promoting bike riding as a safe transport form for all.
The Sustrans Walking and Cycling Index research discovered that the importance of such an option was particularly sought after among those on low incomes who may disproportionately be feeling the pinch of the cost of living crisis, plus have less access to cars. 58% of low income respondents were in favour of protected cycling routes being laid in their locality.

22 September 2022

The recent passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, and its historic investments in technologies that will reduce climate pollution, are a harbinger of a possibly more hopeful climate future. But there’s a giant climate task left on the table, and it’s one where Congress doesn’t hold much sway: urban land use.
The built environment plays a substantial role in climate pollution, both in terms of energy use in our homes and businesses, and in the transportation systems we use to get around. While the IRA’s historic investment in “electrifying everything” — from vehicles to household heating and cooling — will make a huge difference, there’s still a large gap between the climate ambition of our electric future and the reality of how our cities set incentives for low-carbon lifestyles.