Simon Cox 18 January 2023
As the 1 year anniversary of the 2022 Highway Code changes approaches, it seems an appropriate time to revisit the changes, exploring how they’ve been delivered, and their impact on active travel uptake.
Of the 8 changes , here we’ll focus upon the 3 ‘H Rules’, those focused on ‘hierarchy of road users’ changes.
Rule H1, “… those in charge of vehicles that can cause the greatest harm in the event of a collision bear the greatest responsibility to take care and reduce the danger they pose to others. This principle applies most strongly to drivers of large goods and passenger vehicles, vans/minibuses, cars/taxis and motorcycles.”
UK rail chaos increases demand for cars – ft.com
Philip Georgiadis, Peter Campbell January 4 2023
More than half of buyers say unreliable public transport is behind purchase, says Auto Trader
More than half of prospective car buyers in the UK said they were considering purchasing a private vehicle because of increasingly unreliable public transport, according Auto Trader.
The findings by the online car marketplace, based on its most recent twice yearly survey of customers, compared with just a third who gave the same reason for looking to buy a car in February 2020, before the coronavirus pandemic hit. The platform registers an average of 65mn visits a month.
“Cities should not just build green transport but actively dismantle car infrastructure” – dezeen.com
Phineas Harper11 January 2023
Instead of desperately trying to reduce road congestion in the short term, politicians should be using traffic as a tool for making urban transport more sustainable, writes Phineas Harper.
New research claims London’s roads are the most congested in the world. But rather than wasting money and emissions building new roads in self-defeating attempts to reduce the time that Londoners who drive spend in traffic jams, politicians should be doing the exact opposite. Managed strategically, congestion is critical in supporting the transition to safe, sustainable transport.
Widening Highways Doesn’t Fix Traffic. So Why Do We Keep Doing It? – nytimes.com
With billions of dollars available to improve transportation infrastructure, states have a chance to try new strategies for addressing congestion. But some habits are hard to break
Interstate 710 in Los Angeles is, like the city itself, famous for its traffic. Freight trucks traveling between the city and the port of Long Beach, along with commuters, clog the highway. The trucks idle in the congestion, contributing to poor air quality in surrounding neighborhoods that are home to over one million people.
“Entrenched car culture”: Brits spending up to 19% of income on cars is stifling active travel, claims cycling campaign group – road.cc
A study by cycling campaign group Bike Is Best suggests that millions of people in Britain are trapped in transport poverty and are spending concerning proportions of their income to enable them to drive a car, with bicycles and increased investment in cycling infrastructure touted as a solution.
The report is based on nationally representative survey of 2,000 people and found that on average those who own a car are spending 13 per cent of their pre-tax income on the associated costs of driving (fuel, insurance, Vehicle Excise Duty, MOT, maintenance etc.).
Islington Council to introduce low-traffic schemes on 70% of roads – bbc news
A London borough is planning to impose traffic restrictions on 70% of its roads in a bid to reduce pollution.
Islington wants to introduce six more low-traffic schemes, called liveable neighbourhoods (LNs), which will work in the same way as the current low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs).
The restrictions will mean drivers cannot pass through designated roads, which will be pedestrianised.
The seven current Islington LTNs will also remain in place.
The proposals won council backing but remain subject to “extensive” consultation before a planned implementation in April.
Cycling ancient trails: off-road on an e-bike in Pembrokeshire’s Preseli Hills – The Guardian
Alf Alderson
The highest point of the writer’s rise in the Preseli Hills was 300 metres, high enough to be fully exposed to the weather blowing off the Irish Sea. All photographs: Owen Howells Photography
The path on which I’m riding my e-mountain bike across the hills of north Pembrokeshire is known as a bridleway, but to Ed Sykes, who grew up in these hills, it’s an “e-trail”. Ed is the founder of Hidden Routes in Newport (between Cardigan and Fishguard), an e-mountain biking outfit that takes clients on guided rides through what is probably the least-known corner of Pembrokeshire.
Car free visions: Tooting – wearepossible
Do you live in or near Tooting? Please join us for the unveiling of our brand new visions of Tooting in a car free future, designed with local residents.
The event will include the first viewings of our new Car Free Tooting designs, a speaker panel on how we can create an equitable, car-free London that meets the needs of all our communities, followed by Q&A, refreshments, discussion and networking.
Register to join us at the event. 6:30-8:00pm, Monday 30th January 2023 at the United Reform Church, Rookstone Rd, SW17 9NQ. Nearest Tube Station: Tooting Broadway
US Cities Are Falling Out of Love With the Parking Lot – wired.com
California and many local governments are scrapping requirements that once made cars the center of the urban landscape.
Oliver MilmanJan 7, 2023 8:00 AM
This story originally appeared in The Guardian and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
They are gray and rectangular, and if you laid all 2 billion of them together they would cover an area roughly the size Connecticut, about 5,500 square miles. Parking lots have a monotonous ubiquity in US life, but a growing band of cities and states are now refusing to force more on people, arguing that they harm communities and inflame the climate crisis.
Americans Are Paying a Record $717 a Month for New Cars – bloomberg.com
Craig Trudel l 6 January 2023, 12:00 GMT
Americans are agreeing to bigger monthly payments on new-car loans than ever before, with the average climbing to $717 in the fourth quarter, up 50% from 2010, according to car-shopping researcher Edmunds. Almost 16% of consumers who financed a new vehicle in the last three months agreed to at least $1,000 monthly payments. That’s up from 10.5% a year earlier and just 6.7% in the fourth quarter of 2020.