Speed cameras could be used to check tax, insurance and MOT, IAM RoadSmart reports
04 March 2022
The overwhelming majority of UK motorists support the use of safety camera technology to check for insurance, MOT and road tax offences.
Research conducted by the charity IAM RoadSmart revealed that 89% of over 2,000 motorists surveyed supported the idea of safety cameras being used to spot those who decide to flout the rules and drive illegally on public roads without the required documentation.
Glasgow aims to reduce car vehicle kilometres by 30% – transportxtra
External interventions from national governments will be required to achieve these ambitious targets – road charging schemes and measures to increase the cost of car use for short or unnecessary journeys
Glasgow has announced plans to reduce the number of car vehicle kilometres by 30 percent within this decade.
A council meeting this month updated members on the progress of the Glasgow Transport Strategy (GTS) Final Policy Framework, including the outcomes of a period of consultation and discussion around issues such as Workplace Parking, Mobility as a Service and Bus Governance.
Climate activists have deflated hundreds of SUV tyres in affluent areas across the UK – bigissue.com
Sarah Wilson
A group calling themselves The Tyre Extinguishers targeted “well-to-do” neighbourhoods and say their aim is to make it “impossible” to own a 4×4 in urban areas.
A climate activism group calling themselves The Tyre Extinguishers deflated hundreds of SUV tyres across the UK on Monday night in a protest against the polluting “killer vehicles”.
The stunt, which the group said was the “first in a new wave of protest”, was taken to discourage the use of 4×4 cars in urban areas with the ultimate aim of making it “impossible” to own one.
Lifetime cost of a small car is about £500,000 of which society pays 41%. – Jon Owen – Twitter
Jon Owen@anotherJon
“Motorists underestimate the full private costs of car ownership, while policymakers & planners underestimate social costs.” New research from
@StefanGossling , J. Kees & @LitmanVTPI
has calculated that the lifetime cost of a small car is about £500,000 of which society pays 41%.
The Welsh Government reveals it wants 20mph limits everywhere – walesonline.co.uk
Ruth Mosalski
A law to change most 30mph speed limits to 20mph in Wales is to come into force in April 2023.
The Welsh Government wants it to be law that the national default speed limit on residential roads and busy pedestrian streets is cut to 20mph.
The plans will apply to all roads where street lights are not more than 200 yards apart – usually seen in residential and built-up areas – where the default speed limit is 30mph. There will be some exceptions, based on criteria linked to the number of houses, schools, community centres and shops alongside the road. Councils can look at that criteria and decide whether to keep the 30mph speed limit on specific roads.
A law to change most 30mph speed limits to 20mph in Wales is to come into force in April 2023.
The Welsh Government wants it to be law that the national default speed limit on residential roads and busy pedestrian streets is cut to 20mph.
The plans will apply to all roads where street lights are not more than 200 yards apart – usually seen in residential and built-up areas – where the default speed limit is 30mph. There will be some exceptions, based on criteria linked to the number of houses, schools, community centres and shops alongside the road. Councils can look at that criteria and decide whether to keep the 30mph speed limit on specific roads.
Traffic down by half and footfall up on Church St following LTN – news.hackney.gov.uk
Hackney Council
Traffic is down by a half on Stoke Newington Church Street, and footfall is up by 2% following the introduction of its low traffic neighbourhood (LTN) in September 2021.
The low traffic neighbourhood consists of a 7am-7pm bus gate on Church Street, which only buses, cyclists, waste and emergency vehicles are permitted to pass through during operational times, and five 24-hour filters in the surrounding area.
This was aimed at supporting people to walk, shop and cycle locally and tackling poor air quality in the area.
As the LTN comes to the end of its trial period, the Council is urging people to have their say by 31 March, when it will analyse comments from residents alongside traffic, air quality and footfall monitoring data before making a decision on whether or not to make the low traffic neighbourhood permanent.
Monitoring of other roads shows that there has also been traffic reduction in other roads in the area. Lordship Road is the biggest beneficiary of the low traffic neighbourhood: with 17,000 fewer vehicles now using the road each week – a 77% reduction.
Teenage bike-jacker jailed for two years three months – road.cc
Blake Houghton was part of gang targeting cyclists and motorbikers
Simon Macmichael
11/03/2022
A 19 year old who robber was part of a gang that stole a motorbike and bicycle in Sheffield after mugging their owners has been jailed for two years and three months.
Blake Houghton admitted two counts of burglary, two of robbery and one of dangerous driving when he appeared at Sheffield Crown Court yesterday, reports the Sheffield Star(link is external).
The court heard that the teenager was one of four occupants of a car, all wearing masks, who forced a motorcyclist to stop on the city’s Shirecliffe Road, with one of his accomplices making off with the motorbike.
Prosecuting counsel Matthew Burdon told the court that the victim had been squeezed by the driver of a Seat car who, like his three passengers, was wearing a mask, with the motorcyclist threatened with violence to force him to give them his motorbike.
I could only watch in horror as communities where some of the lived were destroyed or blighted forever by the M8 – Glasgow Live
When I was a small boy I lived in Edinburgh in the 1960s, with family & friends in Glasgow, and could only watch in horror as communities where some of the lived were destroyed or blighted forever by the M8: https://glasgowlive.co.uk/news/history/what-m8-did-charingcross-anderston-15847121 Replace the M8!
Greenfield housing is still being built around the car – transportxtra.com
14 February 2022
Transport for New Homes says parking takes up a lot of space and impacts severely on public realm and good urban design
Greenfield housing estates are adding hundreds of thousands of new car journeys to roads, increasing congestion, increasing carbon emissions and air pollution, a new study suggests.
The Building Car Dependency report, released by Transport for New Homes, states that a typical greenfield development is designed in every way around the car – with as many as two to three car parking spaces per home.
‘You can’t just lop bits off the bike’: UK firm debuts bicycle for people with dwarfism | Cycling | The Guardian
Islabikes to mass-produce model specifically for adults with achondroplasia, after working with campaign group
Peter Walker
Steve Scott from the Dwarf Sports Association worked with the company to develop the bikes.
For much of the 15-plus years Islabikes has existed, the UK company’s managing director Tim Goodall recalls, adults with dwarfism would regularly get in touch, asking to come in to try out one of the bikes they make for children.
The company, he said, was happy to oblige, if aware of the implications: “It was the best option out there, but it was still pretty awful. It did feel like it was a problem that could be solved through better design.”
And that, in the end, is what has happened. The Ludlow-based business has become the first bike manufacturer in the world to mass-produce models specifically designed for the requirements of people with disproportionate dwarfism.
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