News from Elsewhere

Noise-detecting traffic cameras will be trialled in four areas in England in an attempt to crack down on “boy racers” who rev engines and use illegal exhausts, the Department for Transport has announced.
The so-called noise cameras will be installed on the roadside in Bradford on Tuesday, before a rollout in Bristol, Great Yarmouth and Birmingham over the next two months.
A video camera will photograph vehicles and several microphones will record sound to help identify road users who break the law by revving their engines unnecessarily or use illegal exhausts as they drive by.
The technology – in which the government has pledged to invest £300,000 and tested on a private track – will be used to create a digital package of evidence that can be used by police to fine drivers.

Sophie Howe

In a bid to future-proof against cost of living emergencies, public transport should be made free for under 25s, says the future generations commissioner for Wales Sophie Howe. 
Other measures proposed by Howe include expanding the basic income pilot to pay more people enough to meet their daily needs. 
Howe urged the Welsh Government to explore how it can offer short and long-term protection against the cost of living and the climate and nature emergencies. 

@WeAreCyclingUK

A legal loophole that allows motorists who have 12 penalty points on their licence to avoid a driving ban by claiming it would cause them “exceptional hardship” must be closed, argues Cycling UK.

More than 83,000 drivers in the past 10 years have escaped disqualification due to “mitigating circumstances”, the charity estimates.
Cycling UK said the legal loophole has resulted in the death and serious injury of other road users.
In October 2020, the Sentencing Council issued guidance for magistrates, which was intended to reduce the number of offenders with totting up offences who avoided disqualification.
However, the Sentencing Council said that some magistrates and legal advisers have suggested that courts are too often imposing short discretionary disqualifications (of less than 56 days) where people have received 12 or more points.

Tom Thewlis20 October 2022
Nurses from Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospital in London are using e-bikes to visit their patients as part of an initiative to improve sustainability and improve staff health and wellbeing. 
Members of staff within the Mawbey Brough neighbourhood nursing team usually drive, walk or use public transport to get to their patients in Lambeth, South London. 
Although they can now sign up to a pilot project using an e-bike featuring a cargo hold for any equipment they need. 
As well as reducing emissions and congestion on London’s road, the e-bike also involves fewer parking restrictions meaning the nurses can operate within the capital more quickly and efficiently.