#BikeIsBest Advocacy Digest - Edition No. 142

Safer roads but dangerous junctions, money in future but cuts today, and proven road safety measures that people have nonetheless railed against.

Hello and welcome to a week of chilly November weather, where there’s all the juxtapositions: safer roads but dangerous junctions, money in future but cuts today, and proven road safety measures that people have nonetheless railed against.

AREN’T WE ALL AN ENIGMA?

Human behaviour doesn’t always make sense, and that’s OK, as long as we don’t let our knee-jerk tendencies rule our decision-making as a nation - and we are led by people who can make the right decisions, and stand their ground when things get tough. Progress on that: mixed.

BIG STORIES FOR CYCLING ADVOCACY

LONG-TERM FUNDING HOPES. Last week Secretary of State for Transport, Louise Haigh, gave evidence to the Transport Select Committee, on a range of topics. She spoke of cutting road collisions, pavement parking and her hope for long-term funding for active travel. The latter, while welcomed, will come too late for many Sustrans staff, facing the loss of their jobs, as last year’s funding cuts bite the charity who runs the National Cycle Network.   

TOO-SLOW PROGRESS ON DANGEROUS JUNCTIONS. Six people have died cycling or walking in London this year, and the London Cycling Campaign (LCC) says not enough is being done. The LCC released updated maps of the capital’s most dangerous junctions for walking and cycling, junctions being where most crashes happen. The charity says the slow pace of change is jeopardising the city’s ambition to eliminate road casualties by 2040. 

CASUALTIES DOWN IN LONDON. Let me be clear: any death or serious injury is one too many. However, it is worth highlighting that in London, fatalities on the city’s roads fell by 30% between 2023 and the baseline of 2010-2014. That’s the lowest year on record, excluding 2021 during Covid restrictions. Across Britain, fatalities fell by seven per cent, and serious injuries 24%. Transport for London says ‘urgent action is still needed and TfL remains committed to working closely with London's boroughs, the police and other partners to carry out the work needed to reduce danger on London’s roads for everyone’.

ONE MEASURE IS WORKING IN WALES. Author and journalist Will Hayward sets out the astonishing gap between the knock-it-out-of-the-park success of 20mph and public perception. He underlines that unfortunately the measure, which is estimated to have saved £45m in nine months, prevented almost 500 deaths and serious injuries and made appealing places, while reducing insurance premiums, has fallen foul of politics. Hayward’s work has uncovered political actors behind the major social media campaigns. 

MEANWHILE, NEW HOMES AREN’T WORKING. Building homes far away from shops, schools, hospitals and places people need to get to is, unsurprisingly, locking in car-dependency. Without public transport, or walking and cycling options, often the only choice is to drive to and from your new home, this New Economics Foundation report found. The politically easy places to build, like isolated fields aren't, it turns out, the best place to live if you want to leave, ever. 

OTHER HEADLINES

PEOPLE, NOT CARS, BUY FROM SHOPS. Research from the charity Living Streets has found people arriving on foot spend more in shops than those arriving by car. The third iteration of the Pedestrian Pound report also found that pedestrianised high streets have higher sales. In Sheffield’s Castlegate, a former dual carriageway, now a linear park, has seen businesses relocate to adjacent buildings, creating at least 540 jobs. 

INTERESTING GRAPH OF THE WEEK: Car-dependent development, by year, by region. Something has gone amiss here. Source: NEF

ACTIVE TRAVEL WORD OF THE WEEK:

Cowpat development. The practice of plonking new homes in fields, where there might be little resistance, but practically you can only get there and back by car. Better to push for homes where they make sense: near transport, and essential (and non-essential) facilities. 

Until next time,

Adam

Adam Tranter

Founder, #BikeIsBest