#BikeIsBest Advocacy Digest - Edition No. 135

Residents in Cornwall have discovered that ‘induced demand’ is real: more roads can equal more problems. Meanwhile, progress on reducing road deaths has stagnated.

Hello and can you believe we’re 135 editions old? In some ways, a lot has happened in that time, in others, far too little has. 

THE BIG ‘ANOTHER LANE WON’T FIX IT’ ISSUE

Residents in Cornwall have discovered that ‘induced demand’ is real: more roads can equal more problems. Meanwhile, progress on reducing road deaths has stagnated.

BIG STORIES FOR CYCLING ADVOCACY

FIVE YEARS, NO CHANGE IN ROAD DEATHS. The latest annual road casualty report is published, and sadly it’s been five years with no drop in road deaths. In 2023 1,624 people started journeys they didn’t finish, and another 28,087 people and their loved ones are picking up the pieces of a serious injury many will carry for the rest of their lives. As Brake puts it, “We must act now to save lives”, while calling for a new Road Safety Strategy to stop the carnage. 

ANOTHER LANE WON’T FIX IT. That’s the conclusion residents living around the newly-upgraded A30 in Cornwall have drawn. A £220m upgrade by National Highways, and finished in June, was intended to relieve congestion and boost the economy - something road schemes of this nature too often fail to achieve. What locals have seen this summer is the exact opposite, with potential visitors learning to avoid the area because of gridlocked roads.

A NEW PLAZA MIGHT, THOUGH. It’s easy to think because we know things one way, that that’s the only way. Well, this delightful trip down memory lane to the bad old days of ‘nationally important, architecturally beautiful public space as car parks’, shows vision winning out over status quo. Juxtaposed with their current, car-free plaza glory we see change is possible and yes, radical change can be entirely worth the fight.  

WALES REJECTS 20MPH REVERSAL. A Welsh Conservative motion to potentially scrap 20mph speed limits was rejected in the Senedd last week, in a vote that ended 37-14 against. The culture wars, it seems, rumble on. Meanwhile, data shows average speeds are down, as are collisions and insurance claims. One Welsh resident is loving his cycle commute, meanwhile, thanks to a safe, traffic-free route. 

RURAL CHALLENGE. Nowhere are transport issues as acute as in rural areas, where life without a car restricts choices - and life with one can bring unaffordable costs. So much focus is on urban areas in transport planning so these reports from Cycling UK, by PJA, on rural active travel, is an important, fresh contribution to the debate. Many rural residents already walk and cycle, and more would like to more often. Ways to mobilise that are many and varied. 

OTHER HEADLINES

NEW TOWNS, NEW IDEAS? New Towns are one of this government’s solutions to the housing crisis. Old New Towns missed a few tricks, with cycle networks lying unused and roads now reaching capacity. In one panel discussion from last week’s Labour conference, interesting ideas were kicked around, including on how to make walking and cycling work in the context of new developments. See also this article, by transport and urban design specialist Christopher Martin.

INTERESTING GRAPH OF THE WEEK: Barriers to rural cycling. Some of these are behavioural, or could be changed through building skills and/or residents’ understanding of the different cycles available. The rest, and a key part of the picture is, of course, safe routes. Source: https://www.cyclinguk.org/sites/default/files/2024-09/rural-primary-research-consultation-report-cycling-uk-2023.pdf

ACTIVE TRAVEL WORD OF THE WEEK: Social norms. We are social creatures, which means we’re influenced by what our peers do. Research on rural active travel by Cycling UK found that, for most non-cyclists, 66%, riding a bike is something ‘very few’ of the people they know do. Changing behaviours means making cycling the normal, easy activity it should be - which is part of what #BikeIsBest does, well, best. 

Until next time,

Adam Tranter

#BikeIsBest