Rosanna Xia Oct. 2, 2019
Driving is not just an air pollution and climate change problem — turns out, it just might be the largest contributor of microplastics in California coastal waters.
That is one of many new findings, released Wednesday, from the most comprehensive study to date on microplastics in California. Rainfall washes more than 7 trillion pieces of microplastics, much of it tire particles left behind on streets, into San Francisco Bay each year — an amount 300 times greater than what comes from microfibers washing off polyester clothes, microbeads from beauty products and the many other plastics washing down our sinks and sewers.
Transport analysis is ‘programmed’ to deliver roads, says Create Streets
Transport prediction models are not sophisticated enough to “balance all the ways in which we travel around nor agile enough to adapt to changing technology and human behaviour”, argues a report by urban design group Create Streets.
In a review of how projects are evaluated, the group claims that embedded values lead to road-based outcomes.
The report’s author David Milner, deputy director of Create Streets, believes that transport prediction models must change “so we can design the infrastructure we really need”.
According to Milner, transport modelling often starts with the question, “Are you modelling for vehicles or pedestrians?” rather than “considering all types of transport holistically”. He writes: “Despite the rhetoric around sustainable transport we still think about walking, cycling and car transport as separate silos. Many planners will never touch a pedestrian transport model.”
“It’s a sensible discussion to have”: Is Jeremy Vine’s idea to ban drivers from overtaking cyclists in cities a good idea? | road.cc
Dan Alexander Mar 14, 2022
Jeremy Vine shared a video of a taxi driver overtaking him five times, only to drop back behind at the next set of traffic lights.
“If you watch this clip from my commute, you’ll see there is no point whatsoever in any of this driver’s five overtakes — even with the roads clear,” Vine tweeted.
“No complaints about the cab driver: he never passed too close. But why can’t he see: even without traffic, it’s pointless to overtake a bicycle in a city? The argument is that a bicycle is faster, so every single overtake he does will have to be repeated. And as you see from the film, even though he is quite a good driver, all overtaking involves a slight increase in risk.
“I think my point is that any overtake bears risk, and they should be avoided if possible, and the clip clearly establishes that motor vehicles are slower than bicycles, so it’s best for him not to overtake me at all.”
What future for free public transport in US after COVID-19? – Thomson Reuters Foundation
Many cities went to fareless systems to protect public health or boost flagging ridership, but are now focused on equity
By Carey L. Biron March 16
it quickly became clear the effects were far broader, with ridership on local routes rising higher than it had been before the health emergency, officials said, even as public transport use was plummeting all over the country.
“People were still catching the bus, even though the majority of the city was working from home. We realized the only reason they’d get on the bus and risk transmission is they had to be essential workers,” said Faith Walker, executive director of the Richmond advocacy group RVA Rapid Transit.
Dictator Inspires UN To Adopt Resolution Promoting Cycling To Combat Climate Change – forbes.com
The 193 members of the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution on 15 March stating that the bicycle was a tool for combatting climate change.
The resolution, proposed by Turkmenistan, was passed unanimously. The non-binding resolution calls on member states to “integrate the bicycle into public transportation, in urban and rural settings in developing and developed countries.”
It would have been better if the word adopted was “cycle” because bicycle refers only to two-wheeled cycles and therefore excludes tricycles and quadricycles and even unicycles.
Study: Megacar Drivers Up to 4x More Likely to Hit Walkers While Turning – usa.streetsblog
By Kea Wilson Mar 17, 2022
SUVs and pick-up truck drivers are three to four times more likely to hit a pedestrian when they make a turn than the drivers of smaller cars, a new study finds — and researchers think it’s because federal regulators aren’t scrutinizing the common design features that make it impossible for megacar drivers to see walkers passing right in front of them.
In a new study of federal crash data by the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety, researchers found that crashes in which a driver kills a walker are three times more likely to involve a left turn if that motorist was piloting an SUV at the time of impact, compared to fatal walking crashes involving the drivers of smaller cars.
Fatal crashes involving pick-up truck drivers, meanwhile, are four times more likely to involve a driver making a left — and when it comes to right-turn crashes, they’re still 89 percent more likely. Right-turning SUV drivers are 63 percent more likely to strike a person than the drivers of smaller vehicles.
Proposed air pollution limit in England is twice as high as WHO recommends – theguardian.com
Fiona Harvey
The government has proposed to set air quality limits that would allow twice as much small-particle pollution in England as the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends as an upper limit, and that would not be met for almost 20 years.
The new target is to reduce levels of fine particulate matter, known as PM2.5, to 10 micrograms per cubic metre by 2040, in contrast to WHO guidelines, updated last September, that say concentrations of PM2.5 should not exceed 5 micrograms per cubic metre on average over a year.
Tougher laws on mobile phone use while driving set to take effect – road.cc
Legislation banning use beyond just interactive communication comes into force next Friday
by Simon Macmichael
Next Friday 25 March Will see the long-awaited introduction of tougher laws on motorists who use their mobile phones while driving.
Since 2003, it has been illegal to use a hand-held mobile phone while driving Regulation 110 of the Road Vehicles (Construction & Use) Regulations 1986.
However, that regulation provides that for the offence to be committed, the driver would have to be using the device for “interactive communication.
Police in Oxford recover huge haul of stolen bikes, suspect arrested | road.cc
It’s the second such discovery in the Littlemore area of the city in five years, with the suspect potentially the same man in both cases
Police in Oxford have arrested a man for handling stolen goods and possession of criminal property after discovering what they described as “a large number of bicycles” from an address in the city.
Thames Valley Police say that the 54-year-old suspect was arrested following the execution of a warrant under section 8 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 at a premises on Giles Road in the Littlemore area of the city yesterday morning.
The bikes recovered are believed to have been stolen and police have begun the process of trying to find their rightful owners.
Officers have appealed for anyone with information that could be of assistance to their investigation to contact Thames Valley Police on 101, or the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.
Pedestrian-friendly cities have lower rates of diabetes and obesity – newscientist.com
Matthew Sparkes
A review of 170 studies finds consistent evidence that people are less likely to be obese or have diabetes if they live in cities where walking and cycling is safe and convenient
Health 24 February 2022
Pedestrians in Montpellier, France
Manfred Gottschalk/Getty Images
Diabetes and obesity rates can be reduced by transforming towns and cities into places where it is safe and convenient to walk, cycle or take public transport rather than drive.
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