News from Elsewhere

Some local authorities in England are investing 170 times more per head on active travel than others, according to new research by Cycling UK. 

The cycling charity found that annual spending on active travel per head of population ranged from £34 to 20 pence.
The figures, obtained by Cycling UK through Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, detail spending on active travel schemes from both core funding and one-off bids and grants.

Google Maps has released the latest cycling trends as people across the world are gearing up for World Bicycle Day on 3 June.
The pandemic induced bike boom saw cycling levels rise by up to 300% on some days last year as people across the world hopped on their bicycles as safer and more sustainable methods of travelling.
The data released by Google shows that searches related to “bikes” have increased by 24% in the UK compared to this time last year. Additionally, cyclists may be opting for longer rides, according to Google, as people in the UK are using Google Maps to look at cycling routes that are roughly 11% longer than the routes last year. Furthermore, compared to before the pandemic, use of cycling directions is up by 43% in the UK since 2019 and in London it’s up by 63%.

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Living Streets’ Walk to School Outreach programme has received £2.1m from the DfT. The initiative, which has been running with DfT support since 2017, promotes the health and environmental benefits of walking to school for children and their families. The DfT said the programme has a key role to play in the Government’s ambition to ensure more than half of children aged 5 to 10 are walking to school by 2025. The funding builds on the £1m that the DfT gave Living Streets.

 Two-thirds of respondents to a YouGov poll said they support car-free zones outside schools, according to a survey for the charity Living Streets. The survey found that 64% support car-free zones outside schools, while 61% support safer crossings, 57% support a ban on pavement parking and 46% are in favour of lower speed limits. …

Transport is the largest driver of greenhouse gas emissions in the UK

Daisy Dunne – Climate Correspondent

Ministers must ban the sale of the most polluting vehicles such as SUVs immediately and bring in a charge on drivers for each mile they travel if Britain is to meet its climate goals, experts have warned.

Transport is the UK’s most polluting sector, accounting for around a third of the country’s CO2 emissions before the start of the pandemic.
Ministers hope to slash these emissions by encouraging a switch to electric vehicles, with a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030 part of Boris Johnson’s 10-point climate plan.
But experts have warned that it is “delusional” to believe that emissions can be tackled through a switch to electric cars alone – and pointed to more drastic action and “hard choices” to end transport’s contribution to the climate crisis by 2050.

Peter Walker 2/6/21
Schemes to promote cycling and walking condemned by some critics as controversial and unpopular actually appear to be welcomed by many voters, according to analysis of last month’s election results in London.
Examination of the London mayoral election on 6 May on a ward-level basis showed that votes for parties that support such projects tended to rise in areas where they had been introduced, while parties that opposed them were more likely to shed votes.

Drivers who overtake cyclists too closely could be pulled over and cautioned for dangerous driving under a new policing operation this summer Operation Close Pass will have Police Scotland deploying plain-clothes officers on bikes to catch reckless drivers who put cyclists at risk.

Motorists will be pulled over and “if someone is unreceptive to education they will be cautioned for careless or dangerous driving and receive a court summons”, according to a statement from Cycling Scotland.
It comes as the national cycling organisation launches a campaign to improve road safety, with figures showing that at least three cyclists a week suffer serious injuries.