Bike blog | The Guardian – Tagged "Transport policy"

Conservatives, Cycling, Local elections, Local politics, London, Mayoral elections, Politics, Transport, Transport policy - July 20, 2023

London’s Tory mayoral candidate is pedalling backwards on cycling policy

Susan Hall’s stance on active travel reflects a view within her party that contrasts with that of other major European cities

Among the political strands exposed by the Conservatives’ decision to pick Susan Hall to stand for London mayor – not least the apparent unlikeliness that she can win – is one that might seem niche but is in fact arguably very telling: what it says about active travel.

Anyone who has observed Hall in her six years as a London assembly member, and especially her energetic and often outspoken Twitter feed, will have realised that she is very much not a fan of cycle lanes, cycling, or indeed of cyclists themselves.

Why do traffic reduction schemes attract so many conspiracy theories?

Plan to restrict car journeys in Oxford becomes lightning rod for fears of global assault on freedoms

Jordan Peterson is rarely lacking in strong opinions, but even by the standards of the Canadian psychologist turned hard-right culture warrior, this was vehement stuff: a city is planning to lock people in their local districts as part of a “a well-documented” global plot to, ultimately, deprive them of all personal possessions.

Where was this? Not Beijing, or even Pyongyang. It was Oxford. In the days since Peterson’s tweet – viewed 7.5m times – officials in the city have fielded endless queries from around the world asking why they are imposing a “climate lockdown”. Inevitably, there have also been some threats.

Ignore false claims and bad journalism – most LTNs do reduce traffic | Andrew Gilligan

Objections to active travel infrastructures are now raised picking and choosing data to fit the narrative

I’m starting to wonder if anyone is ever going to make an honest argument against cycling and walking infrastructure again. They do exist. People used to say things like “I want to drive and park wherever I like”, or “why should cyclists and pedestrians inconvenience my much more important car journey?”.

Those are still the basic objections, but these days most prominent opponents realise that it sounds a bit politically incorrect. You need some higher public interest ground, however shaky, to pitch your tent on.

How car culture colonised our thinking – and our language

We have become used to thinking about things from a driver’s perspective – but is that the sort of world we want?

When we block traffic from a street, like for a sports event or a street party, we say that the street is “closed”. But who is it closed for? For motorists. But really, that street is now open to people.

We say this because we’ve become accustomed to thinking about the street in “traffic logic”. For centuries, streets used to be a place with a multiplicity of purposes: talk, trade, play, work and moving around. It’s only in the past century that it has become a space for traffic to drive through as quickly and efficiently as possible. This idea is so pervasive that it has colonised our thinking.

This is an edited extract from Movement: How to Take Back Our Streets and Transform Our Lives by Thalia Verkade and Marco te Brömmelstroet, translated by Fiona Graham

Common myths about what UK Highway Code changes will mean

Cyclists won’t be ‘in the middle of the road’ and there is no new rule on riding two abreast

There is, we are told in the Daily Mail, “fury” over changes to the Highway Code. There is “confusion” among road users. Cyclists and pedestrians will, the more breathless news coverage intimates, have carte blanche to weave across the highways, with drivers held culpable for every mishap.

This is, of course, nonsense. After a weekend of yet more misleading coverage, and with the new rules due to come into effect later this week, here’s a brief, potted guide to what will change – and what will not.

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Transport policy RSS

London’s Tory mayoral candidate is pedalling backwards on cycling policy

Why do traffic reduction schemes attract so many conspiracy theories?

Ignore false claims and bad journalism – most LTNs do reduce traffic | Andrew Gilligan

How car culture colonised our thinking – and our language

Common myths about what UK Highway Code changes will mean

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