US regulators investigating hundreds of reports that self-driving models 3 and Y have braked on highways
More than 750 Tesla owners have complained to US safety regulators that cars operating on the automaker’s partially automated driving systems have suddenly stopped on roadways for no apparent reason.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration revealed the number in a detailed information request letter to Tesla that was posted on Friday on the agency’s website.
The 14-page letter dated 4 May asks the automaker for all consumer and field reports it has received about false braking, as well as reports of crashes, injuries, deaths and property damage claims. It also asks whether the company’s “full self driving” and automatic emergency braking systems were active at the time of any incident.
“Cycling in all its forms can be a tool of emancipation for women; offering freedom and autonomy..” – Melissa & Chris Bruntlett @modacitylife
“Cycling in all its forms can be a tool of emancipation for women; offering freedom and autonomy to move through the city unencumbered, facilitating the varied types of journeys they make, and even providing a tool for taking back control of their lives.”
https://womenmobilize.org/freedom-to-mov
Melissa & Chris Bruntlett @modacitylife
New LTNs in East Oxford vandalised – Transport Xtra
Bollard and planters at three new Low Traffic Neighbourhoods in East Oxford have been vandalised. The schemes were introduced on 20 May by Oxfordshire County under an experimental traffic regulation order (ETRO) . A consultation on the schemes will run for the next six months, during which time changes can be made, after which the schemes will run for a further six-month trial period.
The East Oxford schemes have sparked local protests, but anti-LTN candidates failed to make an impact at the local elections on 5 May. Candidate
Sadiea Mustafa-Awan defected from the ruling Labour party over its support for LTNs to stand as an independent in Oxford’s Littlemore ward but failed to win the seat.
RideLondon: it’s all change as cycling festival on closed roads returns | Cycling | The Guardian
There were notable differences from the last time the event was held in 2019. Here are five thoughts
Peter Walker
RideLondon is back. After a Covid-enforced hiatus, the closed-roads cycling festival held its first incarnation since 2019 on Sunday, with both the family-based Freecycle and the 30-, 60- and 100-mile rides held on the same day. There have been some changes – so what was it like? As has become traditional, here are five thoughts about the event.
Goodbye Surrey, hello Essex
The first seven editions of the RideLondon 100 (and its shorter cousins) took riders on the same route into the Surrey Hills and back. Now it is Essex, and the difference is notable. No especially steep inclines, like Surrey’s Leith Hill, and more in the way of wide roads – especially in London, where the route in and out, through Stratford and beyond, was something of a mini-tour of London’s urban motorways and underpasses.
Reform cycle to work scheme so it can be used by lower-paid, Sunak urged | Cycle hire schemes | The Guardian
Peter Walker
Business and cycling groups have urged the government to reform its cycle to work scheme so it can be used by lower-paid and self-employed workers, arguing they are often the people who need it the most.
Introduced more than 20 years ago and since used by more than a million people, the scheme allows users to pay for a bicycle and accessories in instalments taken from their salary on a tax-free basis, thus saving them between 25% and 40%.
But longstanding rules mean it is not available to people earning minimum wage, or close to it, or who do not pay tax on a pay-as-you-earn salaried basis.
In a letter being sent on Monday to the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, groups including the Federation of Small Businesses, the Co-op and British Cycling, have called for this to be changed, arguing that amid rising prices those on lower incomes are most in need of the chance to save money on travel.
A bike, a skateboard or the Elizabeth line? It depends where you want society to go | Andy Beckett | The Guardian
In a lot of ways, cities are about movement. Commuting, cultural visits, consumer binges, social trips or just staring out of the bus window, feeling part of the flow: motion makes urban life fulfilling, sometimes very tiring and occasionally sublime. Over recent years, without much discussion, the way we move around cities has changed. The change started before the pandemic, but Covid accelerated it, and it has continued as the pandemic has apparently receded.
We’ve Got to Stop Requiring Parking Everywhere – nytimes.com
Farhad Manjoo June 2, 2022
There are more registered vehicles in California than there are adult human beings. This isn’t especially anomalous — vehicles outnumber people who can drive them in much of the United States — but the mismatch is particularly absurd in the nation’s most populous and most car-obsessed state, where people and cars have long been locked in a largely invisible battle for the same precious resource: places to park themselves.
For California’s people, the problem is acute. In part because of a longtime undersupply of new housing, California’s cities are some of America’s least affordable places to live; less than 25 percent of households can afford to purchase a median-priced single-family home in the state.
When Cars Kill Pedestrians – newyorker.com
Danyoung Kim
On the afternoon of October 8, 2013, in the last moments of his life, twelve-year-old Sammy Cohen Eckstein, of Park Slope, Brooklyn, was walking to after-school soccer practice near his apartment on Prospect Park West when he lost control of his ball. It rolled into the busy southbound street, and he went after it. The driver of a car in one lane hit the brakes. The driver of a van in the next lane did not. Later, he said he’d seen only a ball, not a boy.
“Sammy didn’t yet have his growth spurt,” his mother, Amy Cohen, said. “He was small for his age. This is why he didn’t survive.” Apart from the funeral, to which nearly a thousand people came, she spent the following days under the covers, as her husband, Gary Eckstein, took the lead in caring for Sammy’s devastated older sister, Tamar. Their son had been a popular figure in the neighborhood, game to debate climate change and Yankees pitching with all comers. A random accident—that’s what people told them.
Melbourne’s ‘pause’ on new bike lanes sparks outrage on World Bicycle Day | Melbourne | The Guardian
Advocates and key councillor hope the halt is short-lived, but transport union criticises existing lanes
Adeshola Ore
Cycling advocates are holding out hope that a halt on new bike lanes in Melbourne CBD announced Friday will be short-lived, warning of the risks posed by gaps in the network.
The Melbourne lord mayor, Sally Capp, said Friday there would be a “pause” on the construction of dedicated cycling lanes in the CBD. The City of Melbourne council said it would instead prioritise upgrading cycling infrastructure on arterial roads.
The council has built more than 19km of protected bike lanes over the past two years.
The announcement – which coincided with World Bicycle Day on Friday – follows backlash from businesses, motorists, the state transport union and residents, with some arguing the lanes made parking and delivery vehicle access difficult and increase city congestion.
But Melbourne Bicycle User Group spokesperson Nicholas Dow said the pause would create a cycle lane network with gaps.
National Highways draws up revised plan for Lower Thames Crossing – Transport Xtra
A multi-billion pound scheme that will involve building the UK’s longest road tunnel under the Thames is now open to a further round of consultation. National Highways said it has refined its plans for the Lower Thames Crossing to take into account feedback from previous consultations.
The project would involve a 2.6-mile tunnel under the Thames, 14.3 miles of new road connecting the M2/A2, A13 and M25 and around 50 new bridges and viaducts“..National Highways are not considering or planning how traffic would migrate between the two crossings when there are incidents, if the LTC goes ahead, and there would not be adequate connections. The result would be more chaos, congestion and pollution.”
The UK Government should follow the Welsh Government’s example, which last year paused most new road schemes to allow them to be reviewed by an independent panel, said Blake (LTT 28 June 2021).
https://ltcconsultation2022.nationalhighways.co.uk