#BikeIsBest Advocacy Digest - Edition No.48

#BikeIsBest Digest Edition No. 48 | Friday 20th January 2023 | View in browser

Hello and welcome to your #BikeIsBest newsletter on this rather chilly January week.
DON’T LET THE WEATHER FOOL YOU
With El Nino combining with global heating, scientists warn us to expect one of the hottest years on record, with a high chance we’ll hit 1.5 degrees of warming in 2023. It’s a tough time of year, and while it’s important to remember the scale of the challenges we’re facing, there are things to be positive about.
BIG STORIES FOR CYCLING ADVOCACY
CALL FOR PEDAL POWERED PLANNING
Cycling UK’s policy aficionado, Roger Geffen, sets out the stall for cycle-centric, rather than car-centric planning. New developments centred around cycling and walking can make for cheaper, healthier places to live, work and play - as well as reaping huge environmental benefits. The Better Planning Coalition, Geffen says, is seeking “a planning system that is fit for the climate, nature and people”.
WALK YOUR CYCLE
Those three words may mean inconvenience for some of us, but for many they mean the difference between being able to make a journey and not. Sarah, who has a progressive neurological condition, explains why those three words, seen in Hove, along with ‘Cyclists Dismount’ have no place in a civilised cycling society.
BIKEHANGARS FOR ALL
Cycling Industry News interviewed the head of Cyclehoop, Anthony Lau, about the challenges of meeting demand for his ever-popular invention. Councils’ growing recognition of the importance of secure parking is keeping them busy, with a Bikehangar waiting list of 40,000, and the company is expanding capacity further this year. You can read the story on page 30 of its latest magazine.
CONGESTION AS A TOOL
This thought-provoking piece by Phineas Harper sets out why, as we often say here in the newsletter, more cars mean more problems - and how congestion can and should be used to manage demand. Making other options nicer, the author argues, is not enough - driving needs to be made harder.
CYCLE SALES BELOW PRE-PANDEMIC LEVELS
Halfords says cycle sales are down against pre-pandemic levels, according to the latest figures. Sales have dropped 10.5% against 2020, and 8.5% on 2022, while children’s bike sales have grown by 4.6% since 2022. Cycle to Work sales, the employee benefit scheme, remain strong, Halfords says.
OTHER HEADLINES
CRISIS? WHAT CRISIS?
All the main political parties seem, to an extent, to be burying their heads in the sand about the need to cut transport’s contribution to the climate crisis. From Labour calling on the government to rule out fuel duty rises, to Tottenham Conservatives claiming LTNs are ‘sacrificing hard-working drivers’, to Sutton Lib Dems pledging to block Ultra Low Emission Zone expansion, it’s business as normal for some - despite the evidence.
WOMEN’S LONDON RIDE PLANNED
Campaigners are planning a mass cycle ride in London celebrating International Women’s Day. The Women’s Wonder Ride, on Sunday 5 March, is intended to celebrate those who cycle and identify as female and non-binary, but also to raise awareness of the gender disparity in cycling, and to push for action.
INTERESTING GRAPHIC OF THE WEEK: CAR BRAIN, MAPPED

Professor Ian Walker has some research out this week about ‘Car Brain’ - the double standards we apply when it comes to motor vehicles. Risks we consider unacceptable in some areas of life are considered OK when cars are involved: small tweaks to the wording of questions make a huge difference when those words relate to ‘cars’ or ‘drivers’. Professor Walker explains the key points in this Twitter thread, or you can read the entire article here.
ACTIVE TRAVEL PHRASE OF THE WEEK; MOTORNORMATIVITY
From Prof. Walker’s latest research, he describes this as “Growing up surrounded by [things like free parking, speeding, motor-centric design, lax enforcement of traffic laws], people internalise the idea that fast, untrammelled, near-consequence-free motoring is normal and, moreover, people conclude that ‘this must surely be the proper way of things’”.
Until next time,

Founder, #BikeIsBest
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