Hackney Council has pledged to more than double the number of bike hangars in the borough from the current 647 to 1,322 over the next four years. With each hangar storing six bikes, this will increase the number of bike spaces by more than 4,000. 

Christopher Mims
Crystal and Brianne Williams, a married couple who live just outside of Denver, recently made a decision that would have seemed radical just a few years ago. 
The pair, 33 and 29 years old, ditched their car for a pair of electric bikes. Brianne rides hers every weekday, 18 miles round trip, to study at her university. Crystal, a less experienced rider, uses hers a couple of times a week to get to her job in downtown Denver, and for errands and outings. Their custom models, assembled by a local e-bike specialty manufacturer, are now their sole means of personal transportation.

Surrey County Council is to trial new restrictions in areas between Guildford and Dorking 
By Jack Leather 7 August 2022 • 3:54pm 
 The DfT says rural roads are more dangerous than urban roads and motorways 
Speed limits on some country roads in Surrey could be cut from 60mph to 20mph under plans to tackle dangerous driving in rural areas.
Surrey County Council is to pilot new 20mph and 30mph restrictions across roughly 80 square miles south of the A25 between Guildford and Dorking.
Supporters say lanes with a legal limit of 60mph are often plagued by joyriders racing in 4x4s and on scrambler motorcycles, raising the risk of collisions with other vehicles.
But the AA questioned whether introducing a “blanket speed limit” would make country roads any safer, adding any 20mph restriction “only makes sense where there is a specific danger”.
“Speed limits work in places where they make sense to the drivers, where there is a particular hazard that requires drivers to slow down,” said the group’s Luke Bosdet.
“The problem is 20mph zones pop up all over the place and they’ve lost their meaning.”

George Monbiot
It reminds me of the school board controversies in the United States. A small group of furious men, whipped up by the media and opportunist politicians, are seeking to turn quiet, practical attempts to protect local people into full-blown culture wars. The further from reality their beliefs diverge, the readier they are to resort to vandalism and violence.
But this isn’t the US, and it’s not about textbooks. It’s playing out in the streets of Oxford. The angry men have resorted so far to arson, angle grinders and physical attacks on local people. What is the frightful cause of these reactions? The council’s efforts to ensure that through-traffic stays on main roads.
There could scarcely be a more reasonable policy. Low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) seek to stop residential streets being used as escape valves for overloaded arterial roads. They replace a privilege exercised by a few – rat-running through local streets – with rights enjoyed by the many: cleaner air, less noise, safe passage for children, cyclists, users of wheelchairs and mobility scooters, stronger communities.

Jon@ormondroyd Sep 19, 2017·
A thread for all the pundits lining up to wring their hands about dangerous cycling and light sentencing in the wake of the Alliston case…

Miranda Bryant

The World Economic Forum (WEF) published a paper last week calling for the end of “wasteful” private car ownership. The WEF argued that communal sharing of cars would lessen global demands for precious metals and fossil fuels.
The WEF’s July 18 paper titled “3 circular economy approaches to reduce demand for critical metals” began by saying, “We need a clean energy revolution, and we need it now.”
The article continued, “But this transition from fossil fuels to renewables will need large supplies of critical metals such as cobalt, lithium, nickel, to name a few. Shortages of these critical minerals could raise the costs of clean energy technologies.”
Klaus Schwab at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos:

Green party’s Siân Berry says Sadiq Khan can still change his mind and prevent increase in traffic pollution

Matthew Taylor
The mayor of London is being urged to make an 11th hour intervention and halt plans for a new four-lane road tunnel under the River Thames that opponents say would worsen pollution and exacerbate the climate crisis.
Tunnelling equipment is on site on the banks of the Thames, and work on the £2bn Silvertown tunnel is due to start in the coming weeks.
But the scheme has faced widespread opposition from local people, politicians, climate scientists and medical experts who say it would increase traffic and worsen public health in some of the most deprived boroughs in the country. They also say it will lock in high carbon transport for generations to come.

A woman who drove a 4×4 vehicle into children and parents outside a primary school in south-west London has tearfully apologised to those injured.
A group outside Beatrix Potter Primary School, in Earlsfield, was hit by the 4×4 driven by 39-year-old Dolly Rincon-Aguilar in September 2020.
Kingston Crown Court heard she had pressed the accelerator not the brake.
The jury is considering its verdicts on eight counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving, which she denies.
Jurors were told the green Rav4 vehicle had mounted the pavement, hit a tree and then a wall before accelerating to the school entrance where the group of parents and children were standing.
Eleven people, including seven children, were treated at the scene, with four adults and five children taken to hospital. Two children were later discharged.
Children as young as six were trapped under the vehicle, the court was told.
Jurors heard that two victims had fractures to the face and skull, with one requiring emergency treatment to remove a blood clot. Others were left with “serious” fractures to the leg, arm and eye socket.