Why Hertfordshire’s 20mph policy gets our support! Cone on UK gov, make it national!

The Dutch lead the world in residential bike parking, and it's not by accident. Municipalities have spent 20+ years building programs that put certified, secure bike hangars on residential streets at scale. How the model works, and why cities everywhere are looking to replicate it: buff.ly/EFkQaiX

One of the most interesting things about Dutch cycling culture is how long people keep cycling. Even at 75+ you still see many people on the bike, often every day. That is not by chance. Safe cycle lanes, smooth surfaces, and clear crossings make cycling possible at every age.

178mph. A life lost. Driving is a privilege, not a right — this extreme speed with lethal consequences warrants nothing less than a lifetime ban. We revoke firearms licences for less. Why should a vehicle user be any different? Protect every road user. #RoadSafety www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

No, cars parked on the pavement are also the problem. Hence the organisation behind this campaign @livingstreets.bsky.social have been campaigning for years on it. Delivery robots on pavements narrowed by badly parked cars or other obstructions: even worse. www.livingstreets.org.uk/get-involved...

Humans should not be forced off pavements by delivery robots, but that's exactly what's happening. The people who pay the price are those with the least room to give it up.

We discussed this subject this morning as well, with some figures of actually how busy it is - but just with pedestrians and cyclists instead of vehicles. We have a sensor there showing over 12,000 commutes daily over the bridge. Not closed at all telraam.net/en/location/...

We limit the speed of ebikes "for public safety", yet this study shows we'd need to limit SUVs to 5.7 km/h for them to pose the same risk to other people #motonormativity findingspress.org/article/1587...

60% of Argentines are concerned about climate change but they only think they are one person in four

As cars continue to get heavier (government could regulate this but CBA) this will be a problem throughout the country. You can everyone driving an SUV or historic bridges open to motor traffic but not both.

Ah, the politicians are finally catching up with the experts. It's only taken years. We need to plan for a low traffic future and use our assets for better places, not traffic sewers. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

This, the finest news story ever published, has once again appeared in my inbox, and it would be rude not to share it.

#TravelInfoTuesday Spotted an issue on or near the railway?🚆 It might be one for Network Rail to handle. Find out who to contact and report it here: 🔗 www.networkrail.co.uk/contact-us/

If vehicles keep swelling, cities “could lose between 8.5-14% of their on-street parking capacity by 2040. London and Berlin alone are each projected to shed around 100K spaces…in dense cities, it’s a major issue worldwide.” #Carspreading pushes out more than parking spots. Tax cars by the inch.

“Copenhagen reported that 62% of its residents are now commuting to work or school by bike — an increase from 52% in 2015 & 36% in 2012, when the City Council launched a 14-year-plan to improve the quality, safety & comfort of cycling.” #Copenhagen chose. They keep choosing even better every year.

“In 2025 — yes, after the games — Parisians approved another referendum to pedestrianize and plant 500 additional streets, removing another 10% of Paris's on-street parking; about more 10K spots…no one calls these car-free streets, rather, they're rues-jardin— literally, garden streets.” #UrbanTruth

GCN’s output over the last few years has been really interesting. I can’t help feeling that it’s been since the team started having children and trying to get places in what’s fundamentally a hostile environment with them.

As cars get bigger & bigger they take up more space on streets & in car parks and pose an increasing safety risk to road users. 👏LTDA for raising this issue with Wimbledon & their fleet of 170+ SUVs for tennis players🎾 Wouldn't smaller safer vehicles be better? www.thetimes.com/uk/london/ar...

Our pals at road dot cc have found the boss level of BUT MY CAR road.cc/news/locals-...

Accusing people advocating for more public and active transport options of not considering disabled people while ignoring the way that the current paucity of public and active transport options limit disabled people's mobility isn't disability justice advocacy, it's enforced car dependency advocacy.

I do not have a car, but I do have a cargo bike. In Vienna, it is a life changer. www.leeds.ac.uk/news/article...

*Last week* I watched the People's Emergency Briefing at a local screening. Here are some of my reflections after watching it, which hit home even more as we witness this heat wave. Thanks to all those organising local screenings, find one here if you haven't seen it already! www.nebriefing.org/peb

Having lived through the Paris 2003 heatwave it really seemed elderly women were at greatest risk of death. Now we know. I've also read much anecdotal evidence (make of that what you will) that estradiol HRT can reduce heat tolerance, so be careful out there <all> my sisters in oestrogen-taking.

Today (33°) I'm thinking of the people who: 🚫 Oppose more trees on their streets 🐦 Campaign to remove trees because birds poo on their car 💔 Vandalise saplings repeatedly Here are some we put in, in 2022, despite some very noisy opposition Here's to improving people's lives against their will 👍🏻

"Car culture and motonormativity are so entrenched, it's too late for information and incentives to make the difference. 'Hard' measures are needed if we want to get serious about reducing car harms." - Absolutely.

Great news. Key takeaway: That noisy, reactionary minority opposing evidence-based public health proposals - arguing for an unhealthy status quo - can and should almost always be ignored. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

NEW EPISODE: Is the way we think about criminal consequences for drivers who harm pedestrians and cyclists another form of motonormativity? A study from Professor Ian Loader of the University of Oxford challenges how the law sees driving and offers solutions. podcasts.apple.com/lu/podcast/r...

Safe.

🤪 If you see a gritter out and about today, don’t worry we haven’t lost the plot. We’ve been spreading sand at a handful of locations where the road surface was getting too hot and looking like it might start to soften.

How 20mph limits are implicit in the government's Road Safety Strategy and how England could join Wales and Scotland with a default urban/village 20mph speed limit. www.20splenty.org/guidance_2026

As already warm cities become more and more vulnerable to extreme heat events, or just the “new normal” of hotter and hotter cities every day, here’s just one more reason why more street trees and other greenery are good for streets & cities. It’s just common sense, really. Cooler, cleaner, smarter.

"The world is not going to be saved by big SUVs that are electric,” says Renault’s chief design officer" - looks like we've fixed things in less than 24 hours 😉 www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Really interesting research, great thread. Consumers don't know how much more dangerous SUVs are to people outside cars; but even when informed, they don't care. It's going to take regulation, not education, to solve this.

“We found there’s this perfect one-to-one relationship. If a city increased its road capacity by 10% then driving in that city went up by 10%.” Still one of the best articles on why building wider roads leads to more cars stuck in the same congestion. Understanding #InducedDemand Via @wired.com

Polling for congestion pricing is always bad before a city implements it. Then it rapidly improves once residents experience faster traffic, quieter streets, and better transit service. As a European city official once told me, " “You have to make people happy against their will."

"The dominance of car amongst transport modes is at least partly the result of policy decisions made by successive governments" - Wow, Scottish Government have said it Big thanks to @srd.bsky.social for flagging this brilliant Parliamentary policy briefing spice-spotlight.scot/2026/06/11/t...

You won't meet many people who have an open mind on anything to do with transport policy. If you do, you could ask them to read and understand this excellent factual primer from the Scottish Government. spice-spotlight.scot/2026/06/11/t...

Bikes deliver the freedom that car ads promise

Bike-lanes don’t cause traffic congestion. Car dependency, dumb land-use sprawl, too many (& bigger) cars being driven too much taking up too much space, highly subsidized driving costs, and not enough choices in how to get around, ALL cause traffic congestion. Think about it. THAT’S common sense.

If walking costs you $1, we all pay $0.01. If biking costs you $1, we all pay $0.08. If bussing costs you $1, we all pay $1.50. If driving costs you $1, we all pay $9.20. Via study that still underestimates climate cost. This isn’t about choice. It’s about who pays for your choice. #citymakingmath

A lesson in high street renewal: remove most parking, widen pavements, provide parking for bike hire, but - most importantly - plant trees.

Exclusive: first govt plan for cycling and walking in England since the Johnson era contains some actual targets - including that 60% of all pupils walk/cycle/wheel to school by 2035. Transport sec Heidi Alexander says a lot of the push is based on public health. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

ULEZ has dramatically improved air quality in London. New evidence shows that our policies are reducing hospital admissions for breathing and heart problems 💚 www.theguardian.com/environment/...

New news

🎯 The new Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy sets a target for 60% of children to travel actively to school. 🦓 And commits to 5,000 new routes & 10,000 safer crossings. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cycling-and-walking-boom-with-45-billion-for-thousands-of-new-routes-and-safer-crossings

If #DfT wants to set targets for walking and cycling, it will need to collect statistics. Oh, the same statistics that #DfT has stopped collecting > 2023, "see the separate walking & cycling stats" > 2025, "nah, can't be bothered to collect those ..." Links in next post bsky.app/profile/pete...

Another government target that will require the foundation of a default urban/village 20mph limit as minister calls for 60% of school journeys to be "active travel" www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

I shall watch this with interest. There's no way to get 60% of kids actively travelling to school without disrupting current patterns of car-based mobility. This includes making all urban streets safer, not just those right outside schools www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

I keep thinking about how 22% of UK households do not have access to a car or van. I thought an icon array might help show just how many people are excluded by car-centric planning

We're supporting our friends at @bettertransport.bsky.social calling for a national mode shift target and investment in the transport options people want to use. Email your MP and help make the case for change 👇 actionnetwork.org/letters/smart-move/