Carlton Reid 24/9/20
Doctors were among the earliest adopters of the newfangled motorcar. An early-1900s medical man in a motor car (and, yes, most were men) extended his reach, allowing him to arrive at destinations in some comfort, and, compared to traveling by horse-and-cart, enabled many more house calls per day—with each call-out attracting a fat fee.
The creation of the NHS in 1948 did away with such fees, but still, doctors preferred to dot around in their motor cars—for the first half of the Twentieth Century, the person most Britons associated with car ownership was the local doctor.
The Fourth Power Rule – cyclelicio.us
Discussion about fees and taxes for bicycles so that we cyclists “pay our fair share” often turn to mentions of the “Fourth Power Rule.” What is this mysterious Fourth Power Rule?
Back in the 1950s and 1960s, highway engineers researched damage done to road beds and road surfaces for the purposes of allocating who should pay how much into the various road maintenance funds. The American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO; they added Transportation to their organization name during the 1973 OPEC oil embargo) collated this research and published their findings as a “Special Report” for a highway engineering conference in 1962.
What these researchers found is that damage to the roadbed is proportional to the 4th power of the axle load of the vehicle, and they called this “the Generalized Fourth Power Law.” This means that if you double the weight on an axle, your vehicle does sixteen times the damage to the road. The result is those signs you see on the backs of truck trailers that say “This truck paid $4,182 in highway taxes last year.”
Let’s take an example. A Toyota Prius weighs about 3,000 lbs, which is 1,500 lbs per axle. A Lincoln Navigator weighs in with a curb weight of 6,000 lbs, or 3,000 lbs per axle.
(3000 / 1500)4 = 24 = 16
Town Hall tweaks low traffic neighbourhood in Hoxton West – Hackney Citizen
Hackney Council made changes to one of its three recently introduced low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) over the weekend in response to feedback from locals and its own monitoring.
The introduction of LTNs has seen heated debate across London, with some welcoming the positive results to air quality and road safety they bring to residential streets being used as rat runs, while others complain of congestion being displaced to other areas.
The Hoxton West LTN’s traffic filter on Nile Street will now move further west, past its junction with Provost Street, to help prevent non-local traffic from using both Nile and Provost as rat runs, with transport chief Cllr Jon Burke speaking out over the weekend to warn vandals who had destroyed bollards in the area: “Cameras coming soon. When we catch you, we’ll prosecute.”
BBC Crime Show Argues For Helmet Compulsion For Cyclists – Forbes
Carlton Reid
The long-running BBC Crimewatch show has been accused of bias after airing a segment on cycle helmet compulsion on September 21. After an outside-broadcast piece about the increase in bicycle theft during the pandemic there was an unrelated studio discussion with two guests in favor of helmet compulsion for cyclists.There was no guest to give a counterpoint, which is against BBC guidelines on impartiality.After the CEO of a head injury charity urged helmet wearing for cyclists, the BBC presenter editorialized, “Very very well said.”Earlier, Rav Wilding, presenter of Crimewatch Roadshow Live since 2009, said a pro-helmet poster was a “really really powerful image and a great campaign.”
The new road rage: bitter rows break out over UK’s low-traffic neighbourhoods | The Guardian
As barriers and signs go up to stop rat runs and promote cycling and walking, communities are deeply divided over the benefit
Sun 20 Sep 2020
Jaquelin Gutierrez, 45, is walking beside her seven-year-old daughter, Lauren, who is riding her bike in the sunshine. They feel far safer than they used to on their 10-minute journey home without so many cars. “I used to be super scared because cars go really fast and might run over me,” says Lauren.
Cycling In Town Centres Is a Network Issue – The Ranty Highwayman
19/09/20
Every so often there’s a flurry of complaints about people cycling through pedestrianised areas. Sometimes there might be a media item in which a talking head holds the cycling community at blame for the behaviour of a few and in some cases, the local authority will ban cycling, yet wonder why people are still there.
Every so often there’s a flurry of complaints about people cycling through pedestrianised areas. Sometimes there might be a media item in which a talking head holds the cycling community at blame for the behaviour of a few and in some cases, the local authority will ban cycling, yet wonder why people are still there.
Discourse around this subject always comes at it from the wrong end, which is either the behaviour of a few individuals or concern about people cycling from those who maybe cannot quite articulate the issue
‘Watching your child struggling to breathe is horrible’: The lives changed by Britain’s poisonous air | Independent
Failure to hit legal nitrogen dioxide limits is putting families and vulnerable people at serious risk
Segregated cycle lane for Kensington High Street next month – South London News
News Reporter 17th September 2020
By Owen Sheppard, Local Democracy Reporte
A segregated cycle lane spanning the length of Kensington High Street will be in place by late October.
A segregated cycle lane spanning the length of Kensington High Street will be in place by late October.
Kensington and Chelsea council said the “experimental” route will be separated from other road traffic with “wands”.
And it will include “floating bus stops”, where the cycle lane cuts between the bus stop and rest of the pavement.
It will begin at the Olympia London, and run for one mile to the south-west corner of Kensington Gardens.
Work on phase one of the plan will start on September 28 and take about four weeks, the council said.
Phase two will involve changes being made to junctions along the routes, and will be undertaken by Transport for London (TfL) and be complete by the winter.
The council hopes it will encourage more people to visit shops and restaurants and commute to work without using public transport.
84% des parents français se disent prêts à laisser leur voiture au garage pour emmener leurs enfants à l’école – ladepeche.fr
Relaxnews14/09/2020 à 00:01
(ETX Studio) – À l’intérieur des établissements scolaires, dans les cours de récréation, sur le chemin de l’école… La pollution de l’air s’immisce partout et menace nos enfants. Les parents sont d’ailleurs prêts à revoir leur mode de transport afin de protéger leur progéniture. 84% d’entre eux n’hésiteraient pas à abandonner la voiture au profit du vélo ou de la marche, dévoile un sondage Harris Interactive réalisé pour Unicef, dévoilé ce lundi à l’occasion de la journée nationale de la qualité de l’air.
Road congestion levels in outer London higher than before lockdown | The Guardian
Exclusive: congestion climbed above 2019 levels in August as people went back to using cars after lockdownFiona HarveyTue 15 Sep 2020 06.22 BST
Road traffic congestion in outer London is now far higher than it was last year as people have gone back into their cars after lockdown, according to new data.
Congestion climbed above 2019 levels in August, and has increased to nearly a fifth on average above last year, in roads outside the capital’s central congestion charging zone, even while it has dropped sharply in the centre of the city.
Membership