#BikeIsBest Advocacy Digest - Edition No.90
#BikeIsBest Digest Edition No. 90 | Thursday 16th November 2023 | View in browser
Hello and welcome to the #BikeIsBest newsletter. This week sees two important milestones, King Charles’ 75th birthday and, of ever-so-slightly less importance, our 90th newsletter edition.
MILESTONES, JAYWALKERS AND ROADBLOCKS
Happy birthday to King Charles, our monarch and a famous proponent of cycling and the environment.
BIG STORIES FOR CYCLING ADVOCACY
DANGEROUS JUNCTIONS MAPPED
Some of our cities’ junctions are provably lethal for cycling and London is no different - except that the London cycling campaign has mapped those with the worst record for collisions. There are interactive maps and lots of data here.
EU CYCLING DECLARATION
You may recall in October the EU launched a Declaration on Cycling, which recognised pedal power’s benefits for both transport and recreation. ECF’s Agathe Daudibon discusses what it means, why cycling as recreation and transport are rightfully recognised as of strategic importance and how the EuroVelo network ties in.
CITIES LEADING THE WAY ON CYCLING
Cities lead the way on human-powered and low-carbon transport, but Leipzig’s mayor, inspired by the same declaration, wants those benefits to spread. Burkhard Jung, whose city hosted this year’s Velo-City cycling conference, says we need national and EU-wide support to fully reap cycling’s rewards - which he points out represent just 7% of all trips in the EU.
DUTCH DESIGN COMES TO THE WIRRAL
The fun AI tool that lets you transform your streets a-la-Netherlands continues to amaze. This time local paper with an international vibe, the Wirral Globe, has used the programme on a local high street in Oxton Village. If we can be what we can see, then ‘Dutch Cycling Lifestyle’ is making us all Hollanders.
ANGER OVER CLOSED RURAL ROUTE
The saga of the closed Lake District National Cycle Network route rumbles on, with Cycling UK declaring Cumberland council’s assertion a busy A-road is a safe alternative to a quiet lane “beyond credulity”. The quiet lakeside road, a key part of the NCN, has been closed by a landslip for some time now, and there’s no sign of it reopening.
BALANCE BIKES FOR THE WIN
Gone are the days of stabilisers - balance bikes are the way forward. Oxford City Councillor, Emily Kerr, writes in the Oxford Mail about what she learned as a mother who taught three kids to cycle on balance bikes. She explains why learning to pedal after mastering the other elements of cycling - balancing, steering, mounting and dismounting - help kids pick up the skill more easily. Emily believes balance bikes are fun, too.
OTHER HEADLINES
THINKING BIG
In this incredibly tough time for the pedal power business, Cycling Industry News is running a solutions-focused series on surviving (and even thriving). The latest is from Cristóbal Pérez, a senior figure in the southern European industry, most recently at Accell. Not all of it will be relevant to everyone but it’s a series that’s worth keeping an eye on.
INTERESTING GRAPH OF THE WEEK:
Dash and helmet cam reporting works. Progress in police processing video submissions of road traffic offences. October was the most successful month for reporting in the West Midlands, with 81% of 734 submissions resulting in a positive outcome. I'm grateful to the motorists, cyclists and pedestrians helping tackle careless and dangerous driving by submitting evidence. Source.
ACTIVE TRAVEL WORD OF THE WEEK:
Jaywalker/Jaywalking. This came up in a recent episode of Streets Ahead podcast and then again in a broadcast conversation between transport secretary, Mark Harper, and the CEO of autonomous vehicle company Wayve. This is a slur that was turned by the 1920s auto industry into a law banning American pedestrians from crossing the road other than at a designated spot. It doesn’t exist in the UK, and nor should it.
Until next time,
Founder, #BikeIsBest
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