#BikeIsBest Advocacy Digest - Edition No. 132

It’s well and truly September.

It’s well and truly September: it’s back to school and it’s raining, but don’t worry - I’ve got the latest active travel news and views for you.

YOUR BIG ‘20MPH AND LTNS ARE GOOD NEWS’ NEWSLETTER

Summer hols may be over for most of us but that doesn’t mean the fun has gone from life. For example, the government’s local authority ratings have been published for active travel (really this is fun for me). Meanwhile, there’s a fun story about the world’s most annoying car horn, some great cycling history and some insurance news (which is better than it sounds). So don’t ever say I don’t treat you. 

BIG STORIES FOR CYCLING ADVOCACY

BIRMINGHAM’S ILLUSTRIOUS CYCLING PAST. It’s back to school, and so we’re going to learn some history. While Birmingham may be known as the UK’s motor city, it was once world-famous for bicycles. According to the Birmingham Dispatch’s Jon Neale, many, if not most, of the world’s bicycles hailed from Birmingham and its surrounding towns, and many of the early cycling innovations.

ON APPEALING TO THE MASSES. Brompton’s Will Butler-Adams talks sense about the need for cycling to appeal to the majority, not just the 2% already doing it. That means the mums with kids, people with no interest in Lycra, nervous cyclists, older people, and people with disabilities. The industry, he says, still has a way to go - and we need to engage with a diverse audience, to speak the layperson’s language, and genuinely include diverse voices in decision-making.

ULEZ CHANGING THE SCHOOL RUN. London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone is changing the way kids get to school, according to new research. Children in the zone, in fact, were four times more likely to switch to walking and cycling after its introduction than those outside. The study, from Cambridge University, followed the travel habits of almost 2,000 children over two years in Luton and London.

INSURANCE SAVINGS WITH 20MPH. Slower speeds save lives, and reduce crashes, which also means less liability for insurers. With more 20mph speed limits rolled out across the UK, one leading insurance company says, drivers could save £50 a year on premiums. How’s that for hard-working drivers? It all helps, right? 

LTNS CUT NOISE POLLUTION. Noise levels within and around Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) improve after the LTN’s introduction, according to a new study. Researchers placed low-cost acoustic sensors in a residential area of Oxford, measuring before and after the LTN was introduced, both within the zone and on ‘possible displacement locations’, i.e, on boundary roads where traffic might increase. All areas, apart from the ‘control’ location saw a drop in noise.

OTHER HEADLINES

LOCAL AUTHORITIES’ CYCLING TRANSFORMATION. Each local authority in England is rated on its active travel ambition and delivery, which is then contingent on that area’s funding. Since last year there are a lot of improvements, and happily, no local authorities are zero-rated. Active Travel England, who produces the ratings and helps local authorities deliver, is upbeat on councils’ willingness to improve, even after a low rating. 

AND THE FINAL KLAXON! We think cars can be noisy today but boy, we don’t even know we’re alive, if this tale from yesteryear is anything to go by. Once, drivers were required to honk their - deafeningly - loud horns, called klaxons, at every turn, so people knew they were coming while clattering along cobbled streets next to horses and carts. Sounds like a recipe for disaster, for both your hearing and the risk of being trampled to death by terrified equines. 

INTERESTING GRAPH OF THE WEEK: 

Data is key to understanding trends. The government produces various sources of data on cycling, from participation in sports to household travel patterns and movements of bicycles too. And these are they. Source https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/walking-and-cycling-statistics-background-information/walking-and-cycling-statistics-england-active-travel-data-sources 

ACTIVE TRAVEL WORD OF THE WEEK:

Multi-year funding. Stop-start funding has hampered the planning and construction of cycle routes for decades. Infrastructure takes years to plan and deliver and multi-year funding is crucial if any mode of transport is to be delivered at scale.

Until next time,

Adam Tranter

Founder, #BikeIsBest