Author name: Steven Edwards

cprelondon.org.uk 10th February 2022

Juliana O’Rourke

15 September 2019 AFP
Between 15,000 and 25,000 people — according to estimates from the police and the organisers respectively — turned out calling for radical change, in a sign of growing impatience with the motor industry.
Diesel-fuelled cars have remained at low levels of popularity in Germany following Volkswagen’s massive “dieselgate” emissions cheating scandal of 2015.    
“The motor show represents the last century,” Christoph Bautz, director of Campact, one of the campaigning group’s behind the protest, told AFP.   “We want the future to belong to the bus, the trains and to bicycles — we don’t want any more.”
Two stretches of motorway were sealed off to allow thousands of the protesters to make their way to the venue on bicycles.

Kathleen McCormick, April 14, 2020
lincolninst.edu
With the interstate highway system in its seventh decade, the condition of many urban highways in the United States has deteriorated. Crumbling viaducts and other unsafe conditions call for an urgent fix. But rebuilding is complicated by rising construction costs, higher engineering and safety standards, scant funding, and other factors.

mylondon.news Robert Firth
Clapham residents living on “rat run” streets fear someone will get killed unless the speed limit is dropped to 10mph. Locals on Lynette Avenue and Klea Avenue have suffered years of nuisance from motorists who use their one lane streets as a short-cut to avoid traffic on main roads.
Drivers cut down their roads to get onto Clapham Common South Side – a main route into central London. The shortcut lets them avoid going through a congested junction with three sets of traffic lights. 

A city council in England is to give residents the power to trade in their family car for bicycles, under a new pilot scheme.
The programme, launched by Coventry City Council and Transport for West Midlands, is the first of its kind in the country and aims to cut air pollution by helping people travel more sustainably.
Under the scheme, which is open to people in the worst-polluted parts of Coventry, families are given a pre-loaded £3,000 cashcard if they give up their car for scrap.

The Workplace Parking Levy enables Nottingham to invest in its future economic and environmental health, says Cllr Rosemary Healy 08 February 2022
Those who know Nottingham and its history will not be surprised that it is the first city in the country to introduce a workplace parking levy (WPL), and that tackling climate change and improving air quality are central to the council’s vision.
Over many years, Nottingham City Council has taken seriously tackling climate change and improving air quality. The workplace parking levy and wider public transport policy have been central to that journey.

Deniz Huseyin 31 January 2022
There is a growing number of older people in the UK
The UK’s population is growing at a slower rate than previously forecast, reveals a new report from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The information will raise questions over transport planning decisions, for example in terms of demand forecasts and housing plans.
ONS National Population Projections point to a slower growth than in the 2018-based projections, 600,000 lower in mid-2030 and 1.8 million lower in mid-2045.
The population of the UK is projected to increase by 3.2% in the first 10 years of the projections, from an estimated 67.1 million in mid-2020 to 69.2 million in mid-2030.

Laura Laker
New greenfield housing developments are locking residents into car dependency, making everyday journeys impossible without a vehicle, a new report has found. Meanwhile, pledges for walking, cycling and public transport are often left unfulfilled.

Rod King Oct 06, 2021
New research[1] from engineering consultants, Skyrad, models the impact of capping speeds at 20mph vs. 30mph. This “real life” modelling that takes account of the stop/start nature of urban traffic yields a very different result from traditional steady-state models. It shows significant and substantial reductions in emissions: CO2 lower by 26% and NOx 28% lower. With UK hosting COP26, campaigners are calling on governments to set 20mph or 30km/h limits as national urban/village defaults.
Although the auto industry is fully aware of the impact of acceleration on vehicle emissions, it does not publish the results. Basic physics means that 2.25 times more energy is required to reach 30mph than 20mph. When this is repeated in the real-world environment, where we slow down at junctions, crossings, congestion points and other hazards, acceleration becomes the dominant factor in overall journey emissions.