#BikeIsBest Advocacy Digest - Edition No.21

#BikeIsBest Digest Edition No. 21 | Thursday, July 7th 2022 | View in browser

Hello and welcome to your beginning of July newsletter. As we head into summer, and the Tour de France is lighting up our tellies once more, there’s still plenty to talk about around utility cycling. Including some great segments in ITV’s coverage on this year’s Grand Depart host, Denmark’s chart-topping everyday cycling levels.

POLICING, BEHAVIOUR CHANGE, AND A SNAZZY UNDERPASS

There’s a reason Copenhageners make almost 50% of all trips by bike. There’s a lot of little pieces that make up a successful environment for active travel, beyond the bike lanes, from proactive policing to behaviour change policies and connecting up the missing links in a cycle network. We happen to have all of those elements for you this week. 
 

BIG STORIES FOR CYCLING ADVOCACY

GETTING ON: BOARDMAN

Active Travel England’s Chris Boardman, tells Telegraph readers we need to be driving less for short trips, and cycling (or walking) for sub-mile trips. It’ll be a long road to behaviour change, which is often driven by habit, confidence, lack of awareness of other options, or indeed perceived necessity, but it bears repeating to those who can change: these boots are made for walking (and cycling), and that’s what they should do. 
 

CHANGES NEED NUDGES

Professor Ian Walker, environmental psychologist at the University of Surrey, explains to road.cc’s podcast (from 29 minutes) why ingrained habits, like driving, are hard to change - and why fuel cost rises haven’t led to more cycling. Physical nudges, like a route being blocked, or moving house, or indeed Covid, can spark new behaviour, which then becomes automatic. Breaking habits takes time though, so a positive or negative nudge needs to last a good couple of months to stick.

CARGO BIKES ARE GO

Amazon is the latest company to embrace cargo bike power in a big way, and while they’re not the first, they could well be the biggest, with a sizeable ambition to match. The delivery supergiant will replace thousands of van trips with pedal-powered trips and is launching its first ‘micromobility hub’ in Hackney, for package distribution to cycle and foot deliveries. It wants 50% of its deliveries to be net zero by 2030. Up to a million could be made by ‘micromobility’ forms, such as cargo bikes. 

ROAD SAFETY INVESTIGATION BRANCH IS GO

The government announced it’s launching a road safety investigation branch, to look at the causes of road collisions, and inform action to tackle them. Detective Superintendent Andy Cox, police head of road collision investigation in England, has long called for such a body and says it’s “A real chance to identify the causes of road crashes, influence policy and action across the sector,” reducing road danger and “ultimately saving life”.
 

ARE WE FAILING ON VISION ZERO?

PC Mark Hodson, West Midlands pioneer of the policing close pass operation, says we’re failing on Vision Zero ambitions (the goal of zero deaths and serious injuries on the roads) by not sufficiently tackling the causes of harm. Hodson wants to see dedicated road danger reduction divisions in each police force. Hodson’s (and his colleague Steve Hudson’s) Operation Close Pass revolutionised the education and enforcement of drivers overtaking too close, and had a substantial impact on cycling collisions locally.
 

SUSTRANS: REFUSE PLANNING PERMISSION TO ‘COW PAT’ DEVELOPMENTS

The charity Sustrans has called on the government to stop allowing homes to be built more than 10 minutes’ walk from shops, schools and GP surgeries. This is in a bid to meet climate targets and cut ‘cow pat’ developments, homes plonked in a field that are accessible to amenities only by car. 

OTHER HEADLINES

OUTSTANDING UNDERPASS

A bit of good news from my patch this week as a formerly fenced-off highways depot under the Coventry ring road is transformed into a new linear park complete with climbing wall and play area. The improvements also create a new walking and cycling link into the city centre. It’s well lit and has CCTV, so people can feel safe using it year-round. For before-after photos click here.
 

BUILD IT AND WHO WILL COME?

This excellently titled Street Talks webinar, discusses the impact of infrastructure on different users and what’s needed to ensure as many people as possible can enjoy those cycle routes. With Isabelle Clement of disabled cycling charity Wheels for Wellbeing, Temi Lateef, who empowers people from ethnic minorities to cycle, with his organisation My Choice, and Black Riders Association, and Professor Ian Walker, who we heard from above. Watch to understand some of the challenges and solutions for different folks.

INTERESTING GRAPHIC OF THE WEEK

Heatwaves are increasing and temperature rises have accelerated in recent years. Cargo bike delivery company Pedal and Post Oxford carry this graph on their wagons, showing temperature change in the city across two centuries. UK temperatures have risen 1.5 degrees since 1814 according to graph author Ed Hawkins.

Source

ACTIVE TRAVEL PHRASE OF THE WEEK; VISION ZERO

The target of zero deaths and serious injuries on the roads. It requires society-wide buy-in and its four pillars are: safe roads, safe speeds, safe vehicles and safe road use.

Until next time,

Founder, #BikeIsBest

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