#BikeIsBest Advocacy Digest - Edition No.71
#BikeIsBest Digest Edition No. 71 | Wednesday 5th July 2023 | View in browser
Hello and welcome to Wednesday. It’s an exciting week as we launch our new #BikeIsBest ads on billboards up and down the country.
FOR SHORT JOURNEYS
Our latest ads are now live up and down the country. From a coffee and catch up to popping to the shops: for many short journeys we make each day, #BikeIsBest.
Do send us a pic if you spot one of our ads! 👀🚲
Thanks to our partners who make it possible to place these ads so prominently.
BIG STORIES FOR CYCLING ADVOCACY
PAVEMENT PARKING PAIN
Pavement parking is dangerous and unacceptable. Some of it can and should be enforced right now using tools already available to local authorities and the Police. But we also urgently need national legislation to get on top of the problem. To illustrate the impact of this behaviour, one mum in Birmingham shares the difficulties she faces manoeuvring her wheelchair around vehicles on the pavement.
BiKES MEAN TRANSPORT FREEDOM
People in Oxfordshire, half of whom don’t achieve the recommended levels of exercise, will be offered refurbished bikes to help them get about in a cheap and healthy way. White Horse District Council’s Ride Revolution project takes bikes from recycling centres and donations, which students fix up, before they go to a good home. Residents are referred via GPs, schools and the council.
WIN FOR NI CYCLE TRAINING
Northern Ireland’s kids will learn to cycle thanks to a concerted campaign by Cycling UK and Sustrans to reverse funding cuts. Previous proposals to cut funding for schools have been reconsidered, meaning kids will learn the skills and confidence to get about by bike after all.
DOUBLING DOWN ON DANGEROUS DRIVING
West Midlands police have stopped more than 70 drivers following recent hit-and-run deaths in Birmingham. The force wants to reassure people catching dangerous drivers is a priority, as local residents expressed concerns over an epidemic of bad driving in the region.
MORE FUNDING IN WALES TOO
In case you missed it, as we’re talking about Wales, for this year’s clean air day, earlier in the month, Wales announced a £58m boost for active travel, in a bid to cut some of the transport emissions responsible for air pollution. The funding will include half a million each for local authorities to develop a pipeline of future routes - a crucial part of long-term planning for cycling and walking.
OTHER HEADLINES
AIR POLLUTION IS REAL
Sadly, the impacts of air pollution are real and present, and while measures to tackle the problem are uncomfortable and in some quarters unpopular, the air isn’t going to clean itself. The latest research from London, showing pockets of persistently high pollution, is no doubt mirrored in cities and towns up and down the country.
INTERESTING GRAPH(ICS) OF THE WEEK:
NORMAL CYCLING! Just a twitter thread showing people of all ages getting about in regular clothes by cycles in Amsterdam, thanks to the city’s network of safe, convenient routes.
ACTIVE TRAVEL WORD OF THE WEEK:
Special Pleading Fallacy. This is one relating to Prof. Ian Walker’s research earlier this year on attitudes to driving risk. He describes this as the phenomenon “where certain specific cases get a free ride in thought and discourse. People selectively fail to apply the moral and ethical standards they would use in other contexts,” in this case to dangerous behaviour behind the wheel.
Until next time,
Founder, #BikeIsBest
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