Speed cameras could be used to check tax, insurance and MOT, IAM RoadSmart reports
04 March 2022
The overwhelming majority of UK motorists support the use of safety camera technology to check for insurance, MOT and road tax offences.
Research conducted by the charity IAM RoadSmart revealed that 89% of over 2,000 motorists surveyed supported the idea of safety cameras being used to spot those who decide to flout the rules and drive illegally on public roads without the required documentation.

External interventions from national governments will be required to achieve these ambitious targets – road charging schemes and measures to increase the cost of car use for short or unnecessary journeys

Sarah Wilson
A group calling themselves The Tyre Extinguishers targeted “well-to-do” neighbourhoods and say their aim is to make it “impossible” to own a 4×4 in urban areas.
A climate activism group calling themselves The Tyre Extinguishers deflated hundreds of SUV tyres across the UK on Monday night in a protest against the polluting “killer vehicles”. 
The stunt, which the group said was the “first in a new wave of protest”, was taken to discourage the use of 4×4 cars in urban areas with the ultimate aim of making it “impossible” to own one. 

Jon Owen@anotherJon
“Motorists underestimate the full private costs of car ownership, while policymakers & planners underestimate social costs.” New research from
@StefanGossling , J. Kees & @LitmanVTPI
has calculated that the lifetime cost of a small car is about £500,000 of which society pays 41%.

Hackney Council
Traffic is down by a half on Stoke Newington Church Street, and footfall is up by 2% following the introduction of its low traffic neighbourhood (LTN) in September 2021. 
The low traffic neighbourhood consists of a 7am-7pm bus gate on Church Street, which only buses, cyclists, waste and emergency vehicles are permitted to pass through during operational times, and five 24-hour filters in the surrounding area. 
This was aimed at supporting people to walk, shop and cycle locally and tackling poor air quality in the area. 
As the LTN comes to the end of its trial period, the Council is urging people to have their say by 31 March, when it will analyse comments from residents alongside traffic, air quality and footfall monitoring data before making a decision on whether or not to make the low traffic neighbourhood permanent. 
Monitoring of other roads shows that there has also been traffic reduction in other roads in the area. Lordship Road is the biggest beneficiary of the low traffic neighbourhood: with 17,000 fewer vehicles now using the road each week – a 77% reduction. 

Blake Houghton was part of gang targeting cyclists and motorbikers

A 19 year old who robber was part of a gang that stole a motorbike and bicycle in Sheffield after mugging their owners has been jailed for two years and three months.
Blake Houghton admitted two counts of burglary, two of robbery and one of dangerous driving when he appeared at Sheffield Crown Court yesterday, reports the Sheffield Star(link is external).
The court heard that the teenager was one of four occupants of a car, all wearing masks, who forced a motorcyclist to stop on the city’s Shirecliffe Road, with one of his accomplices making off with the motorbike.
Prosecuting counsel Matthew Burdon told the court that the victim had been squeezed by the driver of a Seat car who, like his three passengers, was wearing a mask, with the motorcyclist threatened with violence to force him to give them his motorbike.

When I was a small boy I lived in Edinburgh in the 1960s, with family & friends in Glasgow, and could only watch in horror as communities where some of the lived were destroyed or blighted forever by the M8: https://glasgowlive.co.uk/news/history/what-m8-did-charingcross-anderston-15847121 Replace the M8!

14 February 2022
Transport for New Homes says parking takes up a lot of space and impacts severely on public realm and good urban design
Greenfield housing estates are adding hundreds of thousands of new car journeys to roads, increasing congestion, increasing carbon emissions and air pollution, a new study suggests.
The Building Car Dependency report, released by Transport for New Homes, states that a typical greenfield development is designed in every way around the car – with as many as two to three car parking spaces per home. 

Islabikes to mass-produce model specifically for adults with achondroplasia, after working with campaign group
Peter Walker

Steve Scott from the Dwarf Sports Association worked with the company to develop the bikes.
For much of the 15-plus years Islabikes has existed, the UK company’s managing director Tim Goodall recalls, adults with dwarfism would regularly get in touch, asking to come in to try out one of the bikes they make for children.
The company, he said, was happy to oblige, if aware of the implications: “It was the best option out there, but it was still pretty awful. It did feel like it was a problem that could be solved through better design.”
And that, in the end, is what has happened. The Ludlow-based business has become the first bike manufacturer in the world to mass-produce models specifically designed for the requirements of people with disproportionate dwarfism.