#BikeIsBest Advocacy Digest - Edition No.81
#BikeIsBest Digest Edition No. 81 | Friday 15th September 2023 |
Hello and welcome to your slower, rather thoughtful #BikeIsBest newsletter.
SLOWER SPEEDS AND ROAD JUSTICE
This is a big week for vulnerable road users in the UK, with Wales rolling out its default 20mph speed limit, and the All Party Parliamentary Group on Cycling & Walking released its Road Justice report. Read on, dear reader…
BIG STORIES FOR CYCLING ADVOCACY
ROAD JUSTICE
The All Party Parliamentary Group for Cycling and Walking (APPGCW) has released its Road Justice report this week, setting out ten recommendations to improve safety (and perceptions of safety) for those cycling and walking - and better tackle lawbreaking driving. The Guardian and road.cc covered the news, including Chris Boardman’s moving personal account of the impact of his mother’s death after she was hit by a driver while cycling.
WALES IS 20
On Sunday roads in Wales that were previously default 30mph speed limit will become default 20mph. This is one of the biggest road transport changes in the UK in decades and it’s a huge game changer for active travel, reducing the likelihood and severity of collisions on roads where most people walk and cycle. The slower speed will feel normal quickly, was the message from Spain, a nation that did the same in 2019.
…AND LONDON IS TOO…
Or at least 65km more roads of it. Transport for London this week announced further 20mph speed limits across roads in nine boroughs. With it comes a new safety campaign around speeding. It’s all part of the Mayor of London’s ‘Vision Zero’ plan to eliminate deaths and serious injuries on the capital’s roads.
BUILD ON BRITAIN’S ROAD BELT?
Create Streets, an urban planning think tank, is suggesting tackling two problems at once, housing and ‘excess tarmac’, by building homes on what they call ‘Britain’s road belt’. Broad junctions, built for higher traffic speeds that are fast going out of fashion, and ‘counterproductively wide roads’, could help provide the land to meet the government’s housing targets, the group says. It’s certainly a provocative idea.
26% OF PARLIAMENTARY STAFF TRAVEL ACTIVELY
More than a quarter of Parliamentary staff plan to cycle, walk or jog to work, according to a workplace travel survey, conducted this year. A further 66% plan to take public transport, and just 3% to drive. The low level of car use is attributed to provision of safe walking and cycling routes in London, and a comprehensive public transport network.
OTHER HEADLINES
BATH IN EMISSIONS-BASED PARKING CHARGES
Bath and North East Somerset has launched emissions-based parking charges, to ‘reduce the number of higher-polluting vehicles driving into Bath, where air pollution is a concern, especially for people with chronic heart and lung conditions’. The city is just the latest in a growing number tackling traffic issues with such measures.
INTERESTING GRAPH(IC) OF THE WEEK: BENEFITS OF 20
This infographic, by 20’s Plenty, sets out some of the ways Welsh residents will benefit from slower speeds where they live, work, shop and play, from this week.
Source
ACTIVE TRAVEL WORD OF THE WEEK:
Road Crime. Road crime is real crime, and one of the latest Road Justice report's recommendations is that road crash victims be treated as victims of crime, with the rights, and the legislative and investigative support that affords.
Until next time,
Founder, #BikeIsBest
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