As well as indicating where transport expenditure will be concentrated in the coming two years ahead of the next General Election, the Chancellor’s proposals have provoked concern and opposition about the way the decision-making and implementation about transport policies and projects is set to change, and what this means for those initiatives not achieving a boost to GDP – for example, those relating to decarbonisation, promotion of active travel and Levelling Up.
The 100-plus projects identified as ready to implement (see below) will be accelerated as fast as possible, with the aim of starting construction on most of them by the end of 2023, Kwasi Kwarteng said.
Twitter thread) Telegraph’s & TimHarford’s coverage of DfT changes to traffic stats, showing 20.3bn not 22.6bn miles were driven in London , 2019 – Jon Burke
1/ You may have seen @Telegraph ‘s & @TimHarford ‘s coverage of recent DfT changes to road traffic stats, showing that 20.3bn miles were driven in London in 2019, not 22.6bn. Low Traffic Neighbourhood enemies claim this means we don’t need LTNs. They’re wrong. And I’ll prove it.
2/ Not rubbishing
@transportgovuk ‘s data, but 1993 2019 miles driven on the U.K’s roads annually increased by 100 billion. 70% came from cars/taxis, yet the DfT have not explained why their new estimates show just a 200 million mile increase in London in the decade to 2019.
3/ The ‘smoking gun’ for increasingly desperate Low Traffic Neighbourhood opponents, who’ve lost the argument, lost in court, and lost at the ballot box is that LTNs that based on the DfT’s original data should be scrapped. There are a couple of massive problems with this idea.
You can’t park there, mate – Jon Owen – Twitter
@anotherJon
You can’t park there, mate: Having driven past ROAD CLOSED signs, moved a barrier and ignored the warning shouts of workers, a driver sank his car into freshly poured concrete at some roadworks in Carnforth this week. Excellent work, chief, well done.
Greta Thunberg on the climate delusion: ‘We’ve been greenwashed out of our senses. It’s time to stand our ground’ | Climate crisis | The Guardian
Greta Thunberg
Maybe it is the name that is the problem. Climate change. It doesn’t sound that bad. The word “change” resonates quite pleasantly in our restless world. No matter how fortunate we are, there is always room for the appealing possibility of improvement. Then there is the “climate” part. Again, it does not sound so bad. If you live in many of the high-emitting nations of the global north, the idea of a “changing climate” could well be interpreted as the very opposite of scary and dangerous. A changing world. A warming planet. What’s not to like?
Perhaps that is partly why so many people still think of climate change as a slow, linear and even rather harmless process. But the climate is not just changing. It is destabilising. It is breaking down. The delicately balanced natural patterns and cycles that are a vital part of the systems that sustain life on Earth are being disrupted, and the consequences could be catastrophic. Because there are negative tipping points, points of no return.
Protected bike lanes on school routes must be urgent government priority, says Sustrans | road.cc
The active travel charity has called for “long-term safety barriers” to be removed, after a recent survey found that just 14% of parents feel very confident teaching their children to cycle on the road
Active travel charity Sustrans has urged the government and local authorities to guarantee protected cycle lanes on all main road routes to schools.
The Bristol-based charity says that a renewed focus on active travel infrastructure should be an urgent priority for Liz Truss’ Conservative government, as it would help embed new habits in people across the UK who have been forced to change the way they travel due to the ongoing cost of living crisis.
Sustrans’ call for more and better cycling infrastructure, especially around schools, comes in the middle of Cycle to School Week, when families are encouraged to ditch the car and ride their bikes to and from school.
Road closures to reduce traffic in Royal parks to be made permanent – standard.co.uk
Ross Lydall
Road closures designed to reduce traffic in several Royal parks are to be made permanent, it was announced on Tuesday.
Trial schemes that were introduced in Richmond Park, Greenwich Park and Bushy Park in August 2020 are to be retained after winning public support, the Royal parks charity, which runs the parks, said.
The Saturday closures of The Mall and Constitution Hill – making the ceremonial route beside Buckingham Palace traffic-free throughout the weekend – will also be retained, but more research will be done prior to a decision on whether to make this permanent.
Similarly, the Saturday closure of South Carriage Drive in Hyde Park will continue, pending a decision from Transport for London on whether to retain the Park Lane cycle lane.
However, motorists will continue to be able to drive through part of Richmond Park – the Kingston Gate to Richmond Gate route on the west of the park – seven days a week, despite the concerns of cycling campaigners
.
CPS drops prosecution of helmet camera cyclist who delayed traffic by seconds while filming law-breaking driver | road.cc
Cycling UK hails legal win in case involving Bristol rider who shot footage of one driver using phone at wheel and another ignoring a red light
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has dropped its case against a cyclist who was said to have delayed traffic by a handful of seconds as he used his helmet camera to film a driver illegally using a handheld mobile phone at the wheel in Bristol, as well as another motorist subsequently driving through a red light.
During the incident, which happened on 4 March, Tom Bosanquet spotted a driver using their mobile phone when he drew up alongside them at a set of traffic lights.
He told the motorist that using the phone at the wheel was an offence and dangerous, and while he did so an impatient van driver behind starting beeping his horn due to the delay which lasted all of 9 seconds.
Male drivers three times more likely to be in road collisions with pedestrians | Transport | The Guardian
Michael Goodier
Male drivers are almost three times more likely than women to be involved in road collisions that kill or seriously injure pedestrians in Great Britain, a gap that has widened over the past decade.
A Guardian analysis of government road accident and journey data shows that in 2020 and the first half of 2021, 4,363 male drivers were involved in collisions that seriously injured or killed pedestrians, compared with 1,473 female drivers.
Including trips by car, van, motorbike and in other private vehicles, this equates to 2.8 serious collisions – those involving a pedestrian being injured or killed – for every 10m journeys by men, compared with 1.04 for women.
The figures – which exclude cases where the sex of the driver was not known or recorded – show that men have been more likely to injure or kill pedestrians, going as far back as at least 2002 when comparable data on the number of journeys began being recorded.
RSPB ‘not ruling out’ direct action to defend nature from government policy | RSPB | The Guardian
Sandra Laville
Beccy Speight dismissed accusations by Conservative MPs that the group was lying to its members and pursuing a marketing drive, as it leads a coalition campaigning against the government over key “growth” policies which it argues will damage wildlife and nature.
The chief executive said a meeting with the secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs, Ranil Jayawardena, had not provided any reassurance that the government’s growth policies would protect nature.
Three quarters of Brits don’t expect police to bother investigating bike thefts | road.cc
Transport Xtra
According to the poll, bike thefts rank top of the list of crimes Brits don’t expect police to look into thoroughly, ahead of mobile phone snatching, phone and internet scams, and shoplifting.
84 percent of those surveyed also believe that it is unlikely that bike thieves will be caught and convicted, with over half claiming that it is “not likely at all” that criminals stealing bicycles will be found guilty in court.
> Police failed to catch a bike thief in 87% of affected neighbourhoods in past three years
The YouGov survey follows a report released earlier this month by the police watchdog which argued that police forces in England and Wales are failing to adequately investigate cases of burglary, robbery and theft in England and Wales.
Recent Home Office figures show that, between March 2021 and March 2022, just 6.3 percent of robbery offences and 4.1 percent of thefts in England and Wales led to charges.