News from Elsewhere

19/09/20
Every so often there’s a flurry of complaints about people cycling through pedestrianised areas. Sometimes there might be a media item in which a talking head holds the cycling community at blame for the behaviour of a few and in some cases, the local authority will ban cycling, yet wonder why people are still there.

By Owen Sheppard, Local Democracy Reporte
A segregated cycle lane spanning the length of Kensington High Street will be in place by late October.

Kensington and Chelsea council said the “experimental” route will be separated from other road traffic with “wands”.
And it will include “floating bus stops”, where the cycle lane cuts between the bus stop and rest of the pavement.
It will begin at the Olympia London, and run for one mile to the south-west corner of Kensington Gardens.
Work on phase one of the plan will start on September 28 and take about four weeks, the council said.
Phase two will involve changes being made to junctions along the routes, and will be undertaken by Transport for London (TfL) and be complete by the winter.
The council hopes it will encourage more people to visit shops and restaurants and commute to work without using public transport.

(ETX Studio) – À l’intérieur des établissements scolaires, dans les cours de récréation, sur le chemin de l’école… La pollution de l’air s’immisce partout et menace nos enfants. Les parents sont d’ailleurs prêts à revoir leur mode de transport afin de protéger leur progéniture. 84% d’entre eux n’hésiteraient pas à abandonner la voiture au profit du vélo ou de la marche, dévoile un sondage Harris Interactive réalisé pour Unicef, dévoilé ce lundi à l’occasion de la journée nationale de la qualité de l’air.

Road traffic congestion in outer London is now far higher than it was last year as people have gone back into their cars after lockdown, according to new data.

Congestion climbed above 2019 levels in August, and has increased to nearly a fifth on average above last year, in roads outside the capital’s central congestion charging zone, even while it has dropped sharply in the centre of the city.

Governments rely heavily on fuel duty revenue to fund many of their political and social projects. According to the UK Office of Budget Responsibility: “Fuel duties are levied on purchases of petrol, diesel and a variety of other fuels. They represent a significant source of revenue for government. In our latest forecast, we expect fuel duty to raise £28.4 billion in 2019-20. That would represent 3.5 per cent of all receipts and is equivalent to £1,000 per household and 1.3 per cent of national income.”

School Streets

School street closures can improve the number of children walking, cycling and wheeling to school without creating road safety problems, according to a new report. 
An increase in school street closures would also not result in traffic displacement causing road safety issues in neighbouring streets, the findings show.

How’s your eyesight, where do you stand on seatbelts, should you seek psychiatric help

The man on the cover of the Observer Magazine of 14 October 1973 looks a little like racing driver James Hunt in an incongruous tweed jacket but with a helmet of hair rather than… a helmet. ‘Are you fit to drive?’ it asked, referring to driving rather than dress sense.
‘All the indications are,’ wrote Paulette Pratt, ‘that many drivers have serious defective eyesight. Nearly a third of a million motorists are driving with vision below even the primitive standard required by law; a further 900,000 can only reach this standard with one eye.’ Being pulled over and asked why you are driving with one eye closed and giving the excuse ‘because that’s the one that passes the primitive standard required by law’ probably wouldn’t have cut it as an excuse, even in the early 70s.

Roadspace reallocation schemes spark tensions that need to be resolved using engagement and conversation

The reassessment of how urban roadspace is allocated and used has been one of the few positive side effects of the pandemic. Across the UK, the need to alleviate pressure on public transport in the light of social distancing has seen an increase in the number of people walking and cycling to work, shops, schools, for exercise and for leisure. Local authorities have thus banned cars from high streets, widened pavements with barriers and created temporary, or ‘pop-up’, bike lanes.