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Cycling, Environment, Road transport, Transport, Transport policy, UK news - January 24, 2022

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.

How a myth about London bike lanes and congestion took off

Analysis: delving into news stories linking congestion with cycle lanes shows how troubling myths can escape into the wild

Fairly early on Monday morning last week I got a call from a radio station: could I come on to discuss a study showing London is the world’s most congested city, and this is because of cycle lanes. Hang on, I replied – say all that again?

As it turned out, I never appeared (someone else got the part). But, intrigued, I looked into the research which supposedly showed all this. And that was when things started to get strange.

The bikelash paradox: how cycle lanes enrage some but win votes

Meddling with drivers guarantees a media storm, but mayors behind ambitious road reclamations are consistently rewarded

Every politician knows the word “bikelash”. From Milan to London, from Sydney to Vancouver, reallocating public space from motor vehicles for people to walk and cycle will inevitably send some residents into paroxysms of anger.

But a persistent theme is that voters have time and again reelected the mayors responsible for ambitious road reclamations, often with overwhelming majorities. Although many presume these policies are toxic, projects that make cities more liveable have been shown to be good urban policy and good politics.

Janette Sadik-Khan is a former commissioner of the New York Department of Transportation and a principal with Bloomberg Associates. Seth Solomonow is an adviser and strategist with Bloomberg Associates, specialising in public space and sustainable transport infrastructure. The authors provided pro bono advice to Sala and Duggan on their public space plans.

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Cycling, Environment, Ethical and green living - September 23, 2021

Why aren’t more big bike firms tracking their environmental impact?

Trek’s sustainability report appears to be the first of its kind in a sector that has had a free ride on the issue

Trek, one of the world’s biggest bicycle brands, recently released its sustainability report for 2021. Remarkably, this appears to be the first time a major bike company has published such a document.

While some other manufacturers make broad sustainability pledges or tout their success in reducing packaging waste, Trek’s report offers an ambitious array of concrete environmental commitments and a comprehensive analysis of the carbon footprint of its bikes.

Bernhard Isopp is a lecturer and researcher in the department of science, technology and society at the Technical University of Munich, where he works on questions of sustainable mobility.

Hastily abandoned low-traffic schemes could cost councils funding

Transport minister warns local authorities not to remove cycle lanes or other reduction measures without evidence of their failure

Councils which rip out cycle lanes or low-traffic neighbourhoods before giving them a chance to work or without evidence they are failing could lose future central government funding, ministers have warned.

In a sign of the growing frustration within government at some councils, both Conservative and Labour, which have removed active travel schemes in the face of sometimes noisy objections, transport minister Chris Heaton-Harris is formally writing to the leaders of all English local authorities with transport responsibilities.

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Bike blog | The Guardian RSS

Common myths about what UK Highway Code changes will mean

How a myth about London bike lanes and congestion took off

The bikelash paradox: how cycle lanes enrage some but win votes

Why aren’t more big bike firms tracking their environmental impact?

Hastily abandoned low-traffic schemes could cost councils funding

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