#BikeIsBest Advocacy Digest - Edition No.84

#BikeIsBest Digest Edition No. 84 | Wednesday 4th October 2023 |

Hello and welcome to October, where it’s still unseasonably warm, and where we attempt to separate fact from fiction.
CHOICES, CHOICES, CHOICES
Human behaviour is a funny thing: a lot of the time, we do things because they are easy, but sometimes there is no other choice, or it seems too hard to do something else - even if we want to. A decent transport system gives people choices, ideally ones that don’t harm others.
BIG STORIES FOR CYCLING ADVOCACY
PLAN FOR DRIVERS?
Along with my fellow Active Travel Commissioners, I’ve written to Rishi Sunak about his ‘plan for drivers’, and the need to remember that cycling and walking policies also benefit drivers, by freeing up road spaces for the journeys people need to drive. They also provide a practical solution for our finite road network, for our children who want to get to school safely and they offer drivers the freedom to choose how they travel.
COLLISION STATS UPDATED
Tragically the latest collision stats for Great Britain, released last week, show 1,711 people lost their lives on our roads in 2022. In addition 28,031 people were seriously injured - impacts that will likely be life-long for those people. Road danger reduction campaigners called for action to “address this public health issue immediately”.
OTHER OPTIONS ARE AVAILABLE
On that note, Chris Boardman has urged the Prime Minister to stick with existing ‘fantastic’ cycling plans, while British Cycling, Ramblers, Bikeability Trust, Cycling UK, Sustrans and Living Streets, have jointly criticised the ‘plan for motorists’ for denying people ‘their choice, health and freedom’. Meanwhile, the concerns about 15-minute cities have been challenged… by the man who invented the concept.
CAN CYCLING CURE LONELINESS?
A shocking 44% of men admit to frequent feelings of loneliness, according to YouGov figures quoted by Cycling Weekly in this timely feature. Talking to a man who overcame loneliness in his 40s thanks to a cycling club, and to different organisations involved in tackling loneliness, the piece discusses cycling’s potential role in men’s mental health.
SAFE STREETS NOW - BEHIND THE SCENES
Two of the Safe Streets Now campaigners spoke to my podcast, Streets Ahead, ahead of the weekend’s protests calling for action on road danger. Protests took place across England on Saturday, asking for ‘space, peace and justice’ on our streets. You can listen here. The Oxford protests were covered here.
BUREAUCRACY HOLDING BACK CYCLING?
Scottish Active Nation Commissioner, Lee Craigie, has written a strongly-worded letter condemning the sluggish nature of change towards cycling and walking, at the end of her four-year term in post. Craigie wrote that in the last four years, while she had been inspired by the vision and passion behind the efforts to increase levels of walking, wheeling and cycling, there was a “frustrating and disappointing lack of collaboration and levels of bureaucracy” halting progress, which will need to be addressed in the future, reports road.cc.
OTHER HEADLINES
COMMUNITY GROUPS CALL FOR 20MPH
Cambridgeshire will see 20 more 20mph zones after community groups rushed to ask for the measures. The county council said a scheme funded to introduce the zone, on the request of communities, was oversubscribed, with 88 applications. The first 20 priority areas will, they say, be followed by further zones, in a bid to save lives and encourage more walking and cycling.
INTERESTING GRAPH(IC) OF THE WEEK
All about choice. This week the government published a report, detailing its plans to revitalise England’s towns. It references the National Infrastructure Commission’s report which, among other things, highlights that a range of infrastructure improves people’s lives, including infrastructure enabling active travel. Source

ACTIVE TRAVEL WORD OF THE WEEK:
Autobesity. There’s been a lot of talk about oversized vehicles lately, from the additional risk they pose to other road users, to particulate levels and carbon emissions - as well as the fact they take up more space on the roads.
Until next time,

Founder, #BikeIsBest
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