Peter WalkerLast modified on Wed 21 Oct 2020

MPs are to hear evidence on road safety from a campaign group that dismisses warnings about global heating and wants higher speed limits and fewer cycle lanes, prompting alarm from environmental and active travel organisations.
The Commons transport committee will take oral evidence on Wednesday from the Alliance of British Drivers (ABD), which says it represents mainstream views but accepts its membership is “tiny” as a proportion of drivers.
The ABD’s formal position is that human-created global heating is a myth, and that many concerns about the health impact of vehicle pollution represent “scaremongering”.
ABD’s policies include raising all speed limits to 85% of actual average speeds and abolishing urban 20mph zones. It believes that cycling and walking are “not a credible transport policy”.
In May, the ABD’s official Twitter feed argued that the UN and other groups “have been captured by One World Global Marxist sympathisers, whose gradual aim is to gradually pauperise and depopulate the west and the developing world”.

Oct 20, 2020,

As part of her campaign to be re-elected as Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo pledged to carve out more space on the streets of her adopted city for pedestrians and cyclists. She said she would do this, in large part, by removing car parking spaces. 

On January 29, Hidalgo revealed at an election hustings (the first round of voting took place in March) that the space required to make Paris more people friendly would come at the expense of motoring. She told electors she would remove the great majority of the on-street car parking spaces in Paris. And despite car parking being the supposed “third rail” of urban politics—touch it at your peril—she comfortably won a second term. 

2020 Vision Zero Cities Conference, Oct. 19-23.

In the first cross-authority scheme I am aware of (please let me know if I am wrong here), the London Boroughs of Newham and Waltham Forest have joined forces to create two new LTNs straddling their boundary. The Maryland and Odessa LTNs remove the ability for drivers to cut through a large residential areas which contains some nice surprises.

Gwyn TophamSat 17 Oct 2020

Drivers who use hand-held phones in any way behind the wheel will face £200 fines and possible bans when changes in the law take account of smartphones.
While making calls or texting on a hand-held mobile while driving is already illegal, taking photos, scrolling through a playlist or even playing games on phones has not been outlawed until now – allowing drivers to escape charges when spotted with a phone.

Our infrastructure campaigner Simon Munk lives in Waltham Forest and was heavily involved in campaigning for the mini-Holland schemes there. The schemes were controversial when they started going in over 5 years ago, and the evidence arising from them has been recently heavily contested by those opposing “Low Traffic Neighbourhoods” (LTNs) across London. Simon has now written a long assessment of the evidence from Waltham Forest and some of the common attacks on it, here. For the short of time, here’s our summary

Multi-sports retailer Wiggle has given London a dressing down in research detailing the best and worst cities for cyclists in the UK

The data, which analysed sentiment from over 6,000 UK sports enthusiasts, reveals which cities across the UK are the most, and least, cycle friendly. The research found that London is among the worst cities for cycling while the city of Newcastle has ranked the best.
54% of London cyclists surveyed stated aggressive drivers in the capital as a reason they don’t feel safe on the roads, closely followed by drivers in Brighton and Hove (50%), Glasgow (49%), Leeds (49%) and Liverpool (49%). Welsh drivers are thought to be the friendliest, with just 24% of Aberystwyth cyclists feeling concerned about inconsiderate drivers.