Author name: Steven Edwards

Dan Alexander Mar 14, 2022
Jeremy Vine shared a video of a taxi driver overtaking him five times, only to drop back behind at the next set of traffic lights.
“If you watch this clip from my commute, you’ll see there is no point whatsoever in any of this driver’s five overtakes — even with the roads clear,” Vine tweeted.
“No complaints about the cab driver: he never passed too close. But why can’t he see: even without traffic, it’s pointless to overtake a bicycle in a city? The argument is that a bicycle is faster, so every single overtake he does will have to be repeated. And as you see from the film, even though he is quite a good driver, all overtaking involves a slight increase in risk.
“I think my point is that any overtake bears risk, and they should be avoided if possible, and the clip clearly establishes that motor vehicles are slower than bicycles, so it’s best for him not to overtake me at all.”

Many cities went to fareless systems to protect public health or boost flagging ridership, but are now focused on equity
By Carey L. Biron March 16

By Kea Wilson Mar 17, 2022
SUVs and pick-up truck drivers are three to four times more likely to hit a pedestrian when they make a turn than the drivers of smaller cars, a new study finds — and researchers think it’s because federal regulators aren’t scrutinizing the common design features that make it impossible for megacar drivers to see walkers passing right in front of them.
In a new study of federal crash data by the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety, researchers found that crashes in which a driver kills a walker are three times more likely to involve a left turn if that motorist was piloting an SUV at the time of impact, compared to fatal walking crashes involving the drivers of smaller cars.
Fatal crashes involving pick-up truck drivers, meanwhile, are four times more likely to involve a driver making a left — and when it comes to right-turn crashes, they’re still 89 percent more likely. Right-turning SUV drivers are 63 percent more likely to strike a person than the drivers of smaller vehicles.

Fiona Harvey
The government has proposed to set air quality limits that would allow twice as much small-particle pollution in England as the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends as an upper limit, and that would not be met for almost 20 years.
The new target is to reduce levels of fine particulate matter, known as PM2.5, to 10 micrograms per cubic metre by 2040, in contrast to WHO guidelines, updated last September, that say concentrations of PM2.5 should not exceed 5 micrograms per cubic metre on average over a year.

Legislation banning use beyond just interactive communication comes into force next Friday
by Simon Macmichael

Next Friday 25 March Will see the long-awaited introduction of tougher laws on motorists who use their mobile phones while driving.
Since 2003, it has been illegal to use a hand-held mobile phone while driving Regulation 110 of the Road Vehicles (Construction & Use) Regulations 1986.
However, that regulation provides that for the offence to be committed, the driver would have to be using the device for “interactive communication.

It’s the second such discovery in the Littlemore area of the city in five years, with the suspect potentially the same man in both cases

Matthew Sparkes
A review of 170 studies finds consistent evidence that people are less likely to be obese or have diabetes if they live in cities where walking and cycling is safe and convenient
Health 24 February 2022 
Pedestrians in Montpellier, France
Manfred Gottschalk/Getty Images
Diabetes and obesity rates can be reduced by transforming towns and cities into places where it is safe and convenient to walk, cycle or take public transport rather than drive.

JSO Press March 10, 2022
The Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP
The Prime Minister 
10 Downing Street 
London SW1A 2AA 
Dear Prime Minister
Thank you for the reply to our letter written by BEIS on your behalf (which we enclose below). 
In the letter you have sought to justify investment in new fossil fuel supply projects, but have done so without reference to the expert advice from the International Energy Agency, the United Nations and the entire scientific community that such investment is inconsistent with keeping 1.5˚C alive.
It would appear that you know, investment in new fossil fuel supply projects jeopardises the future of humanity, but you propose to encourage it anyway.
While the BEIS response refers to the “independent Climate Change Committee” (which is funded by central government), it omits to mention the CCC’s letter to the Business Minister of 24 February 2022, which says:

Andrew Gregory
The UK has the highest death rate for lung conditions in western Europe, research reveals, prompting calls from health leaders for urgent action to tackle the “national scandal”.
More than 100,000 people in the UK die from conditions including asthma attacks, bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and pneumonia every year, according to data analysis by the charity Asthma and Lung UK.
Across Europe, only Turkey has a higher respiratory death rate than the UK, analysis of data up to 2018 shows, the latest comparable data available from across the continent. The death rate is 162.7 per 100,000 people in Turkey and 134.5 in the UK.
In Germany, the rate is 76.8 while in France it is 59.1 – half the UK rate. People in the UK are three times more likely to die from lung conditions than people in Finland, which has the lowest respiratory death rate (38.4) in Europe, Asthma and Lung UK said.
It described the UK figures as “shameful”, and said that lung conditions had for too long been treated like the “poor relation compared with other major illnesses like cancer and heart disease”.