Cakeism, #158

The transport fantasy that you can “have it all”, vs the reality that there are always trade offs

This week I’ve been struck by the false narrative that we can keep doing what we’ve been doing and expecting different results. The idea we can keep building for private cars while meeting targets to reduce emissions and congestion (not to mention road road danger). Change is hard, and as with everything there are trade-offs. We need to have better and more honest conversations about what that means.

BIG STORIES FOR CYCLING ADVOCACY

ANOTHER LANE WON’T FIX IT. We keep thinking adding another traffic lane will fix congestion. TL;DR, it won’t - but policymakers and the public keep believing in the myth. While it may be politically expedient these days (remember road protests?) to keep delivering more and wider roads, the extra capacity is soon gobbled up by private cars, leading back to square one in short order. GCN did a useful video on it, this week.

‘CONTROVERSIAL’ LANE. Local news reports love to place ‘controversial’ in front of the words ‘cycle lane’. This Telegraph story of a bike route in Grantchester perhaps illustrates what I mean, though the piece is more nuanced than you’d think. Change requires compromise, and while I hope Grantchester’s elderly congregation can still get to church by car if need be, throwing the traffic calming out with the bathwater isn’t necessarily the answer.

SLOWER SPEEDS AND HEALTH. This Parliamentary literature review of the evidence around 20mph zones is a useful guide to what slower speeds can do. For example, 20mph cut road fatalities in Bristol by 63%, and in 40 cities across Europe slower speeds cut air pollution by 18% and noise by up to 3 decibels. Based on the careful wording of this written answer from Government Minister Lord Hendy last month, it appears that Westminster is remaining cautious in backing this life-saving policy.

CYCLING AND WALKING STRATEGY DELAYED. The government has missed the latest Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy, or CWIS deadline, as Highways magazine warned it would. While minister Simon Lightwood announced the government’s intention to publish CWIS3, no consultation on its contents has begun. The DfT says it is scoping options, and underlines the 43,000 fewer sick days its latest £300m investment will enable, but it will need to provide an explanation on the delay.

CHANGE NEEDS COMPROMISE. This study from Australia sums up what’s needed to help people cycle more. In a nation whose car problem is worsening, cycle lanes and behaviour change programmes seem to work. Walking and cycling ‘school buses’ are part of a powerful toolkit to help kids travel actively, too. Overall, researchers note, a ‘fundamental shift’ is needed in how active transport is evaluated, to understand the impact of cycling and walking measures on things like car use.

OTHER HEADLINES

IF YOU DON’T MEASURE, CAN YOU UNDERSTAND SOMETHING? Governments are failing to reduce road danger, in part because of incomplete data, according to a new report from the European Transport Safety Council. While some nations link hospital records, insurance data and police records around collisions, there’s a long way to go to get the full picture. Without understanding where injury collisions occur and why, for example, as well as their impact, prevention will be less effective.

INTERESTING GRAPH OF THE WEEK:

Well, not quite a graph. But, still, another lane won’t fix it, and this video from ABC’s Utopia show demonstrates just why that is the case.

ACTIVE TRAVEL WORD OF THE WEEK:

The Fundamental Law of Road Congestion. The phenomenon that adding lane kilometres, i.e. expanding roads, proportionally increases not only vehicle kilometres, as ‘induced demand’ states, but that traffic reverts back to its original speed. The idea was penned in 1962 by Anthony Downs, so it’s certainly not new. We just haven’t got the message yet.

Until next time,

Adam

Adam Tranter

CEO, Fusion & Founder, #BikeIsBest