Peter Walker, Adam Barnett and Rich Collett-White Wed 2 Mar 2022
A lobbyist who has worked with Conservative MPs to argue that the development of as yet unproven fuel additives means it is unnecessary to phase out petrol and diesel engines is the director of a firm developing such products, it has emerged.
Howard Cox, who runs the FairFuelUK campaign, is heavily involved with the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on fair fuel, which recommended last year that ministers urgently look at fuel additives, saying these reduced emissions by more than 50%.
Cox is one of two directors of a company called Ultimum, which markets an additive that it describes as “the 21st-century vehicle emissions solution”.
The other Ultimum director is the former Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik..
Craig Mackinlay, the Conservative MP who chairs the all-party group on fair fuel, also heads the new Net Zero Scrutiny Group (NZSG), which climate scientists have accused of seeking to derail green policies.

Thor Hanson
When Did You Last Clean Bug Splatter Off Your Windshield?
It’s probably been awhile — and that’s a problem, Oliver Milman writes in his new book, “The Insect Crisis.”
March 5, 2022
Anyone with a car has gathered data on insect declines. Entomologists call it “the windshield effect,” a relatable metric neatly summed up by a question: When was the last time you had to clean bug splatter from your windshield? This ritual was once an inevitable coda to any long drive. Now, we’re far more likely to watch those same landscapes pass by through unblemished glass, mile after empty mile.
The trend is more than anecdotal. When the ecologist Anders Pape Møller began systematically driving two Danish roads in 1996 and counting the windshield splats, many people dismissed his project as a lark. Twenty years later, the results showed something deadly serious: Collisions with insects had declined 80 percent along the first roadway, and a staggering 97 percent along the second.

The Mayor of London has announced plans to extend the city’s Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) to the whole of Greater London.
Sadiq Khan said in a speech on Friday that the policy would help tackle the “triple challenge” of air pollution, the climate emergency, and congestion.
Under the plans, from next year motorists in vehicles that do not meet emissions standards would have to pay £12.50 a day to drive in Greater London.
The policy already extends to the capital’s north and south circular roads, taking in inner London. 

The girl, who was cycling with her family at the time, suffered cuts and bruises and her bike was damaged in the incident

Police in Bristol carried out house-to-house enquiries after a 10-year-old suffered bruises and grazes in an alleged hit-and-run incident while cycling with her family last month.
The family were riding their bikes in a 20mph zone on Bristol’s Hartcliffe Road, at the junction with Instow Road and Bideford Crescent, on Tuesday 1 February at around 8pm, reports BristolLive
According to Avon and Somerset Police, a motorist struck the girl with their car, knocking her off her bike. She suffered grazing and bruising in the incident, and her bike was damaged.

By Joe Linton
Abdollah Ansari, Metro’s Senior Executive Officer for Construction and Engineering, abruptly left Metro last week. Ansari was the head of Metro Highway Program. In recent years, Ansari was one of the agency’s most rigidly pro-freeway and pro-car-capacity leaders.
Streetsblog made inquiries to Metro regarding Ansari five days ago, but has yet to receive the statement that a Metro spokesperson said was forthcoming. If any further information is received, this post will be updated.
In recent years, Ansari’s steadfast commitment to widening freeways/ramps/roads set up clashes with environmentalists, public commenters, cities, Councils of Governments, Caltrans, the federal Environmental Protection Agency, and some Metro boardmembers.
Notably, during the board’s discussion on suspending the 710 Freeway widening last May, Ansari clashed with L.A. County Supervisor (and now Metro Board Chair) Hilda Solis

Andrew Tierney is part of a new breed of cycling activists tackling a rise in online abuse head-on

Authorities fear that thousands of tons of fuel carried onboard could leak and pollute the ocean
The merchant ship Felicity Ace was carrying cars worth millions of dollars as well as thousands of tons of fuel and oil. Photograph: Staff and agencies in Lisbon 2/3/22
An abandoned ship carrying an estimated $401m (£295m) worth of cars, including Porsche, Audi, Bentley and Lamborghini models, has sunk nearly two weeks after a fire broke out onboard.
The Felicity Ace sank on Tuesday about 400 kilometers (250 miles) off Portugal’s Azores Islands as it was being towed, MOL Ship Management in Singapore said in a statement. A salvage team had put out the fire which had burned for days, fueled by lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles onboard.

Andy Street, mayor of the West Midlands, Adam Tranter,

A man has been charged with causing death by careless driving after a woman in her 30s died following a collision involving a lorry at The Plain roundabout
Ryan Mallon 3/3/22