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A car-free London is within our reach | Hirra Khan Adeogun – theguardian.com

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Hirra Khan Adeogun

Last Friday, everyone living in London was told to avoid strenuous physical activity. An intense area of high pressure meant pollutants were caught in the air, rather than being blown away as usual. The government forecast the highest level of pollution – band 10 – would be reached, with air pollution at its highest recorded level since March 2018. The advice to avoid intense exercise put the onus on the most vulnerable in society – children, elderly people, those living with lung and heart conditions – rather than encouraging drivers to move to more sustainable transport options or limit their journeys. But, as a report published on Tuesday shows, we will not effectively tackle the climate crisis without real traffic reduction.

If London is to be a city that works for everyone – drivers included – it needs to move seriously towards a future with fewer private cars on its streets. That’s why I was so heartened to see the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, acknowledging that traffic needs to go down by at least 27% in the capital to meet our climate targets. While I would argue that we could be more ambitious, Khan’s target is impressive, compared with the 2018 mayoral transport strategy, and marks real progress. Around the world, cities that have reduced cars have become better places to live and work: cleaner, safer, with healthier residents who have the option to move around in different ways, rather than relying on private cars..

Chris Boardman Appointed As England’s First Cycling And Walking Commissioner – Forbes

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Carlton Reid Jan 21, 2022,
as England’s first walking and cycling commissioner, a powerful new role. He will be working for Active Travel England, an inspectorate and funding body created by the U.K. government in July 2020 but which has lain mostly dormant since. His role will be an interim one, says a U.K. government statement.
Active Travel England—which will be based in York with 100 staff—apportions the $2.7 billion national cycling and walking budget. The body will rate local authorities on how much space they devote to walking and cycling.

London needs a ‘new kind of road user charging system’ says Khan – transportxtra.com

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A new report states that in order to meet climate change targets, car traffic must reduce by at least 27% in London by the end of the decade
Juliana O’Rourke 18 January 2022
One current option is to Introduce a Greater London boundary charge, which would charge a small fee to non-London registered vehicles entering Greater London, responding to the increase in cars from outside London travelling into the city seen in recent years 
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has set a target for London to be net zero carbon by 2030.  A “new kind of road user charging system” could be one of the solutions, he has announced, based on new analysis.
In order to reduce transport emissions by anywhere close to the amount required to clean up London’s air, achieve net-zero targets and cut congestion, the capital will have to see a significant shift away from petrol and diesel vehicle use and towards walking and cycling, greater…

France slaps new weight tax on heavy cars, SUV owners to be hit hardest – rfi.fr

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In grim news for lovers of big cars, France is to introduce a weight tax for vehicles heavier than 1,800 kilos – though those with hybrid and electric engines will be spared.
The penalty, to take effect from January, 2021, will mainly apply to purchases of SUVs and large four-wheel drives. The exact cost is yet to be determined.
Taxing the weight of polluting vehicles was one of many proposals put forward by the Citizens’ Convention for the Climate (CCC), which called for a penalty of 10 euros to be levied on on every kilogram exceeding 1,400.

Tax on parking: UK cities to impose levy on cars in bid to cut pollution – Observer

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Niamh McIntyre
Councils across the UK are using radical strategies to cut the number of polluting vehicles on their streets in response to the climate emergency.
Leicester city council hopes a new charge on workplace parking will improve air quality, fund public transport and incentivise walking and cycling.
The power to raise a “workplace parking levy” (WPL) from local businesses was introduced by Labour more than 20 years ago. But parking is such a controversial issue in local government that Nottingham is the only city in the UK with a scheme.
Leicester is now set to become the second: it is consulting on proposals to charge companies with more than 10 parking spaces £550 a year per space from next year. It is up to employers to decide whether to absorb the cost or pass it on to their staff. It could raise £450m in the next decade to invest in a new fleet of electric buses, an expanded cycle network and train station renovations.

TfL to extend 20mph across main roads in Westminster – transportxtra.com

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Deniz Huseyin 16 January 2022
TfL is to press ahead with plans to introduce a 20mph speed limit on 13km of its roads in Westminster. This would include Marylebone Road, Vauxhall Bridge Road and Edgware Road between the A40 and St John’s Wood Road.
Other changes would include installing raised tables at six existing pedestrian crossings on roads with newly lowered speed limits and making the temporary 30mph limit on the A40 Westway and temporary 20mph limits on Park Lane northbound and Grosvenor Road permanent.
Nearly half of London’s roads now have a 20mph speed limit. In March 2020, TfL introduced 20mph speed limits on all its roads in the central London Congestion Charging zone, completing the first lowering speeds action in the Mayor’s Vision Zero action plan. TfL said it has worked with the boroughs to deliver 20mph speed limits in nine town centres, including Whitechapel, Archway and Brixton.

Highway Code: £1,000 fine for drivers who open door with wrong hand – standard.co.uk

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Elly Blake
A new rule will see drivers fined £1,000 if they open the door with the wrong hand, as the Highway Code is updated.
The ‘Dutch Reach’ requires drivers to use the hand furthest the door to open it to ensure cyclists are not injured.
Those sitting behind the wheel are required to use their left hand, while passengers would use their right.
Drivers and passengers must adhere to the new rule to protect cyclists instead of blindly opening a door, which campaign group Cycling UK estimates can injure up to 500 people every year in the UK.
The rationale behind the move is opening the door with the hand furthest away prompts the driver to turn their body towards the door and look over their shoulder as they exit the vehicle.

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