#BikeIsBest Advocacy Digest - Edition No.44
#BikeIsBest Digest Edition No. 44 | Saturday 17th December 2022 | View in browser
Hello and hopefully you’re staying warm and safe in these rather snowy, icy conditions.
YOU CAN’T ALWAYS CON-GEST-ION WHAT YOU WANT
Traffic: there’s just too much of it. An uncomfortable truth, perhaps, but with limited space the idea of each of us employing a large single-occupancy vehicle that’s mostly filled with air is clearly unsustainable, if not for the planet and our health then for pure physics.
BIG STORIES FOR CYCLING ADVOCACY
ELLA’S LAW FOR CLEANER AIR
Legislation to ‘enshrine the right to clean air’ has passed through the Lords and is on its way to the Commons. It would require public bodies to monitor and review air pollution with the aim of meeting clean air targets within five years. The private member’s bill, put forward by the Green Party, is named after Ella Adoo Kissi-Debrah, the first person to have air pollution listed as a cause of death, aged nine, in February 2013.
ROAD COMMUNISM?
Journalist Ed West makes a well-evidenced point about the negative impacts of motor vehicles’ free rein (hence ‘road communism’), while making the case for road pricing to control cars’ over-use. I contest his assertions about Conservative voters being anti-cycling, though: in London pro-cycling policies were broadly supported in last year’s mayoral elections, with Tory voters among those who turned against anti-cycling candidates.
BATH DELIVERS NEW CYCLE LANES
Overlooking the BBC’s bizarre use of laypeople’s counterfactuals to frame the debate, Bath now has its first bus stop boarders (where cyclists give way to passengers) on a half mile long, wand-protected route along Upper Bristol Road, with continuous footways for pedestrians. Funded by the Government, the council has already applied to extend the network, the BBC reports. While local cyclists consider the design a downgrade from earlier iterations Bath local, road.cc’s Dave Atkinson, says it’s a big improvement.
WALKIN’ (AND CYCLIN’) THROUGH THE SLEEPY CITY
Walkability grandee, Jeff Speck, has revisited his seminal Walkable City book ten years on. It’s relevant because we experience many of the same issues, and trends, in cycling and walking. Introducing the impact of automobility on ethnic minority communities, and the growing menace of ever-larger SUVs, like the original book, it’s a fascinating - if sobering - read.
ICY TUESDAY?
With local authorities de-icing the streets with varying rapidity, the annual question of why our footways (and cycle paths) are usually left until last, when the consequences of slipping or crashing on a bike can be so painful. It’s also a gender, racial and economic equality issue, with wealthier white men most likely to own cars and drive. This historical piece in Smart Transport sets out why some countries choose to do different.
OTHER HEADLINES
HONEST LTNS
The fact LTNs work to reduce road traffic, congestion and air pollution is partly because they make it less convenient to drive, as well as more convenient (and safer) to walk, cycle and wheel. This week, Haringey Council’s deputy leader, Mike Hakata, has been honest about what this entails.
INTERESTING GRAPHIC OF THE WEEK
Another great cartoon by Dave Walker, comparing the comfortable distances needed for social and everyday interactions, and overtaking a cyclist in a car.
Source
ACTIVE TRAVEL PHRASE OF THE WEEK; BUS STOP BYPASS/BUS STOP BOARDER
A bus stop where a cycle lane passes behind the boarding point, and passengers cross the lane. Bus stop boarders, meanwhile, are where bus passengers dismount directly into the cycle lane, and cyclists give way to those getting on and off
Until next time,
Founder, #BikeIsBest
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