In grim news for lovers of big cars, France is to introduce a weight tax for vehicles heavier than 1,800 kilos – though those with hybrid and electric engines will be spared.
The penalty, to take effect from January, 2021, will mainly apply to purchases of SUVs and large four-wheel drives. The exact cost is yet to be determined.
Taxing the weight of polluting vehicles was one of many proposals put forward by the Citizens’ Convention for the Climate (CCC), which called for a penalty of 10 euros to be levied on on every kilogram exceeding 1,400.
Tax on parking: UK cities to impose levy on cars in bid to cut pollution – Observer
Niamh McIntyre
Councils across the UK are using radical strategies to cut the number of polluting vehicles on their streets in response to the climate emergency.
Leicester city council hopes a new charge on workplace parking will improve air quality, fund public transport and incentivise walking and cycling.
The power to raise a “workplace parking levy” (WPL) from local businesses was introduced by Labour more than 20 years ago. But parking is such a controversial issue in local government that Nottingham is the only city in the UK with a scheme.
Leicester is now set to become the second: it is consulting on proposals to charge companies with more than 10 parking spaces £550 a year per space from next year. It is up to employers to decide whether to absorb the cost or pass it on to their staff. It could raise £450m in the next decade to invest in a new fleet of electric buses, an expanded cycle network and train station renovations.
TfL to extend 20mph across main roads in Westminster – transportxtra.com
Deniz Huseyin 16 January 2022
TfL is to press ahead with plans to introduce a 20mph speed limit on 13km of its roads in Westminster. This would include Marylebone Road, Vauxhall Bridge Road and Edgware Road between the A40 and St John’s Wood Road.
Other changes would include installing raised tables at six existing pedestrian crossings on roads with newly lowered speed limits and making the temporary 30mph limit on the A40 Westway and temporary 20mph limits on Park Lane northbound and Grosvenor Road permanent.
Nearly half of London’s roads now have a 20mph speed limit. In March 2020, TfL introduced 20mph speed limits on all its roads in the central London Congestion Charging zone, completing the first lowering speeds action in the Mayor’s Vision Zero action plan. TfL said it has worked with the boroughs to deliver 20mph speed limits in nine town centres, including Whitechapel, Archway and Brixton.
Highway Code: £1,000 fine for drivers who open door with wrong hand – standard.co.uk
Elly Blake
A new rule will see drivers fined £1,000 if they open the door with the wrong hand, as the Highway Code is updated.
The ‘Dutch Reach’ requires drivers to use the hand furthest the door to open it to ensure cyclists are not injured.
Those sitting behind the wheel are required to use their left hand, while passengers would use their right.
Drivers and passengers must adhere to the new rule to protect cyclists instead of blindly opening a door, which campaign group Cycling UK estimates can injure up to 500 people every year in the UK.
The rationale behind the move is opening the door with the hand furthest away prompts the driver to turn their body towards the door and look over their shoulder as they exit the vehicle.
” Chris Boardman summarises everything that’s wrong with England’s roads in just a few sentences” – Sarah Berry -Twitter
@Chris_Boardman summarises everything that’s wrong with
Free shared bikes are now a permanent part of Prague’s public transport – Prague, Czech Republic
A pilot project offering holders of a Prague public transport pass free access to short-term bike rides has been successful and will become a permanent offering from the city, Prague Integrated Transport has announced this weekend.
Through the program, holders of Prague’s Lítačka public transport pass also have access to use shared bicycles from the Rekola and Nextbike companies for time intervals of up to 15-minute time periods, up to four times a day, free of charge.
How weekly bike rides with a group of supportive women showed me a route to joy | Cycling | The Guardian
London was edging out of the last lockdown and one of the most isolating years we have ever experienced when I discovered the group. I had returned to my roots after living in California in the hope that this country might be kinder to my youngest son. He had bounced around in the mental health system in the USA for almost a decade, where the “cure” had been worse than the diagnosis. But the pandemic hampered my plan. When my son was admitted to a psychiatric hospital yet again, only here instead of in America, I knew I needed a better road map to find my way through the pain.
Trading clunkers for electric bikes: France moves to offer financial incentive – reuters.com
April 11, 20218
PARIS, April 11 (Reuters) – France is offering the owners of old, exhaust-belching cars the opportunity to hand over their vehicles for scrap in return for a 2,500 euro ($2,975.00) grant to buy an electric bicycle.
Lawmakers in the National Assembly have just approved the measure in a preliminary vote. It was an amendment to a draft climate bill passing through parliament that aims to reduce greenhouse emissions by 40% in 2030 from 1990 levels.
If adopted, France will become the first country in the world to offer people the chance to trade in an ageing vehicle for an electric or folding bicycle, the French Federation of Bicycle Users (FUB) said.
“For the first time it is recognised that the solution is not to make cars greener, but simply to reduce their number,” said Olivier Schneider of the FUB.
Famous Statistic Blaming Car Crashes on Human Error Is Wrong -vice.com
Moveable explores the future of transportation, infrastructure, energy, and cities.
You have probably heard that almost all car crashes are due to human error. You may have even heard an exact, scientific-sounding number attached to it: 94 percent, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). And it’s also likely this number made sense to you, like it did to me when I first heard it, because most drivers are impatient and easily distractible.
But persistent advocacy from safety experts has brought to light that this statistic is made up. And, in fact, there is no good evidence to support the claim that “human error” is the cause of most crashes. Their argument has been so convincing that the head of the National Transportation Safety Board, Jennifer Homendy, has officially called on NHTSA to remove the 94 percent statistic from their website, deeming it reflective of a “culture that accepts” 40,000 people dying in fatal car crashes a year.
Cargo without carbon: the rise and rise of e-bike deliveries | Couriers/delivery industry | The Guardian
Demand for electric cargo bike couriers has boomed since first lockdown, bringing the hope of cleaner, quieter, safer streets
Amelia Hill
Would you like your groceries delivered without a side order of traffic congestion? Boilers, books and beauty products dropped off without a roar of diesel? Or even take a taxi ride without the carbon emissions?
Since the first lockdown, increasing numbers of companies have started delivering their products – and passengers – on electric cargo bikes. According to a new directory, there are now almost 450 independent businesses and tradespeople across the UK transforming the sight, sound and smell of our cities and towns by delivering goods to customers using nothing but electricity and pedal-power.