:excerptstart Rhodri Clark 13 July 2022 The revised WelTAG (Welsh Transport Appraisal Guidance), due out later this year, will shift emphasis in appraisals from time savings to wellbeing and the environment, states the Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) of the 20mph default limit.Where a benefit-cost ratio (BCR) is required, the revised WelTAG will require it to be… [Read More]
Cars Kill People and the Environment. Why Do We Let Them? – thestranger.com
The sound of tires squealing was the first indication something was wrong.
As I was walking past the Rite-Aid near the Capitol Hill light rail station, I looked behind me I saw a minivan swerve too fast down East Olive Way. The driver veered left in the direction of a crowd of pedestrians waiting to cross, then right toward the preschool on the corner, then straight into a line of motorists waiting for the light to change.
Three loud bangs, and it was over.
Art painted on crosswalks makes streets safer, group says – washingtonpost.com
Sydney Page
When Chris Visions began painting a ground mural in Richmond, he had no idea his street art might help save lives.
Since the painted crosswalk — which highlights the Jackson Ward neighborhood’s Black culture and legacy — was finished in September, the intersection became safer for pedestrians and motorists, with episodes of cars braking quickly to avoid pedestrians and other close calls reduced by eight incidents, a decline of more than 56%t, data shows.
Google bought Waze for $1 billion to make money from sending drivers through your neighbourhood to avoid the overloaded main roads they’ve created – Twitter – Jon Burke
Jon Burke FRSA @jonburkeUK
Google bought Waze for $1 billion to make money from sending drivers through your neighbourhood to avoid the overloaded main roads they’ve created. The Councillors that delivered LTNs have been vindicated again. Now we need 100% LTNs, and Road User Pricing for the main roads.
Welsh parliament votes to make 20mph default speed limit
A default speed limit of 20mph is to be introduced across Wales after the Senedd approved new legislation by 39 votes to 15 last night. The nationwide limit, to be introduced in September 2023, will apply to restricted roads, typically residential and built-up areas with high pedestrian activity. This will make Wales the first UK nation to lower the default national speed limit from 30mph to 20mph.
The slower speed limits are currently being trialled in eight communities across.
Although new legislation will make the default limit 20mph, local highway authorities will be able to set a different speed limit on individual roads to allow for particular local requirements.
Currently, just 2.5% of Welsh roads have a speed limit of 20mph, but the Welsh government expects this to increase to about 35% next year.
This is not even the new normal In a warming world it gets hotter and hotter… – Twitter – Go Green
GO GREEN @ECOWARRIORSS
This is not even the new normal In a warming world it gets hotter and hotter and world response last year was to see greatest surge in fossil fuels in human history and likely even higher this year when they should be cut by 50%
AFP News Agency @AFP · Jul 16
#ICYMI VIDEO: A car drives through a wildfire in central Portugal, where over 2,000 firefighters were battling four major fires across the country
AntiSocial – Cars and the climate – BBC Sounds – Presenter: Adam Fleming
08 Jul 2022 Available for over a year
The battle between gas-guzzlers and environmentalists. Motorists have been staging go-slow protests on motorways over how expensive it is to get everywhere. Meanwhile, environmental protestors have been letting down the tyres of the biggest gas-guzzlers to stop them going anywhere. They want people to give up their cars, but drivers don’t like being told what to do. It’s getting people angry on social media. Presenter: Adam Fleming Producers: Simon Maybin & Lucy Proctor
What I Mean When I Say ‘Ban Cars’ – Doug Gordon – jalopnik
Somehow, every discussion about reducing our automobile dependency gets turned into a “war on cars.” The only option left is to reclaim the language.
Doug Gordon
Perhaps you’ve seen the slogan float by on social media. Maybe you’ve spotted it on a sticker on someone’s bike. It has even flashed up on a hacked traffic alert sign: Ban cars.
Depending on your point of view, this two-word declarative statement is either enticing or alienating, opening up a conversation or shutting it down before it can begin. Some find it perfectly distills the many problems with automobiles; others believe it’s an absurdly reductive position, one that naively ignores the lives and needs of real Americans.
The truth is, outside of some very narrow circles — mainly urbanist scholars and those who pay attention to “bike twitter” — very few everyday people had ever given much thought to the concept of banning cars. That is, until cable news commentators, who process everything through the lens of the culture wars, latched onto it, spinning a niche sentiment into a vague but terrifying threat that someone, somewhere, is conspiring to take away your car and replace it with a bus pass. I promise, that’s not what we talk about at the meetings.
‘Let’s be mindful of car use, and instead, walk, cycle and share rides’ – Ham & High
Debbie Bourne, Camden eco-worrier July 4, 2022
It’s eco-worrier travel quiz time, dear reader!
Here are four questions for you:
i) How many car owners do you think there are in Camden?
ii) What percentage of car driven trips in London are for one passenger only?
iii) What percentage of London car trips are shorter than 2km?
iv) How many daily journeys to TfL estimate which are currently made by cars could be walked or cycled?
And…er…four staggering answers:
i) There are 35,000 cars in Camden. Evidence suggests that these cars are parked 94% of the time.
ii) 60% are solo journeys.
iii) 33% of journeys are less than 2km. And a further 32% 2-5km.
iv) TfL estimates that 6 million daily journeys in London could be walked or cycled.
Cargo bike sales soar as UK petrol prices surge | Cycling | The Guardian
Higher costs in motoring, environmental concerns and ease of movement are spurring a boom
Sarah Butler
“It’s just fun,” says Killian O’Brien who bought a cargo bike a year ago as a way to go green and reduce costs by getting rid of the family car. “You feel good being out in the fresh air and getting exercise without consciously exercising.”
On his trips to do the shopping or take his daughters to gym classes near his home in Stretford, Greater Manchester, O’Brien now sees more and more folk riding similar set-ups while non-riders are always coming up to ask questions. “We get lots of conversations. Especially if the kids are in the front looking cute, or the dog.”
Cargo bikes usually feature a tub or platform that can be used to carry goods or people, balanced on two or more heavy-duty wheels. O’Brien is among several thousand private individuals who have bought one in the past year, helping almost double sales in the five months to the end of May, according to the Bicycle Association.
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