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Drivers to be banned from using hand-held devices – BBC News

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UK drivers will be banned from filming or searching playlists on hand-held devices from next year under government plans to toughen road safety laws.

It is already illegal to call or text on hand-held phones while driving unless it is an emergency.
From 2022, drivers will be barred from using a device to take photos or play games – with rule-breakers facing a £200 fine and six licence points.
The transport secretary said it would be easier to prosecute offenders.
Grant Shapps added: “Too many deaths and injuries occur whilst mobile phones are being held.

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Hope on two wheels: plan to turn section of A12 into cycle park | Essex | The Guardian

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:excerptstartCampaigners are pushing for a redundant 2½-mile stretch of dual carriageway in Essex to become a country park with cycling facilities James TapperThere has been traffic here for millennia, from the Roman legionaries who marched from Londinium to Camulodunum to the speedsters who now reportedly race against police cars at night. But part of the A12 in north-east

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Biden’s $1.2 Trillion Infrastructure Bill Hastens Beacons For Bicyclists And Pedestrians Enabling Detection By Connected Cars – Forbes

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Carlton Reid iNov 6, 2021

US President Joe Biden speaks about the bipartisan infrastructure bill and his Build Back Better … [+]
AFP via Getty Images
Beaconization—or equipping bicycles and pedestrians with transponder beacons that can be spotted automatically by sensor-equipped cars—has been given the official seal of approval in the U.S., reveals a tucked away part of the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill passed by the House of Representatives on November 5.
The mammoth measure passed in a 228-206 vote, with support from thirteen Republicans. Six Democrats voted against it, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. Biden could sign the bill within days. 
The Act sets aside $4.7 billion for expanding highways (yes, more roads in a climate crisis), $1.79 billion for improving transit, and $605 million for bridge replacement and repairs.

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Campaigners accuse ministers of ‘oiling the way for massive road building’ – thetimes.co.uk

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Extinction Rebellion activists outside the DfTprotest against new road schemes
Ben Webster  November 11 2021
The government secretly sought advice on how to minimise “the chilling effect on road-building” of the need to cut emissions the day before announcing its transport decarbonisation plan.
The request was revealed in documents obtained by campaigners bringing a new legal challenge to try to block 20 major road schemes.
They argue that the government’s £27 billion road building programme is inconsistent with the government’s transport decarbonisation plan because the new roads will increase traffic emissions and make people more dependent on cars.
The schemes include widening the A66 across the Pennines, the A1 in Northumberland, the A12 and A120 in Essex, the A417 between Gloucester and Cirencester, putting the A303 in a tunnel at Stonehenge, and a new crossing of the Thames between Kent and Essex.
Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, published a transport decarbonisation plan on July 14, which he said would deliver “a step change in the breadth and scale of our ambition to reduce transport’s GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions to reach net zero”.
link to original article


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E-bikes would replace over 100 million car trips a year if Government met cycling target | electric bike reviews, buying advice and news – ebiketips – road.cc

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Over 100 million car and taxi trips in the UK’s seven city regions could instead be completed on e-bikes if the Government is able to meet its cycling target, according to a new report by consultants Steer for the Urban Transport Group (UTG).The Fully Charged report – which was commissioned by the Urban Transport Group representing the UK’s

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