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General
Emergency Low Traffic Neighbourhoods – the case demonstrated in one image
Active travel: Trends, policy and funding, Commons Research Briefing
Living Streets the UK charity for everyday walking
Sustrans:
- An introductory guide to low-traffic neighbourhood design contents
- Making the case for a low traffic neighbourhood
Low Traffic Neighbourhoods: Creating Liveable Cities on the Cheap – Adam Reynolds·TEDxBath
Sustainable Development Commission – Fairness in a Car Dependent Society
Every day, 28 children and young people are killed or seriously injured on British roads. Between the ages of five to 14, the most common cause of death is being hit by a vehicle. On average, one child in every class is killed or injured as a pedestrian, cyclist or passenger in a motor vehicle by the time they are 16.
Sustainable Development Commission Fairness in a Car Dependent Society
London Cycling Campaign and Living Streets – A guide to Low Traffic Neighbourhoods
Cycling UK – statistics 38 pages of stats and graphs including comparison with continent
Susan Cashmere (Twitter)
Government
The coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis has had a terrible impact on the lives and health of many UK citizens, as well as severe economic consequences. But it has also resulted in cleaner air and quieter streets, transforming the environment in many of our towns and cities.
And millions of people have discovered, or rediscovered, cycling and walking. In some places, there’s been a 70% rise in the number of people on bikes – for exercise, or for safe, socially distanced travel.
When the country gets back to work, we need them to carry on cycling, and to be joined by millions more. With public transport capacity reduced, the roads in our largest cities, in particular, may not be able to cope without it.
We also know that in the new world, pedestrians will need more space. Indications are that there is a significant link between COVID-19 recovery and fitness. Active travel can help us become more resilient.
That is why towns and cities in the UK and around the world are making or proposing radical changes to their roads to accommodate active travel.
We recognise this moment for what it is: a once in a generation opportunity to deliver a lasting transformative change in how we make short journeys in our towns and cities. According to the National Travel Survey, in 2017-18 over 40% of urban journeys were under 2 miles – perfectly suited to walking and cycling.
Active travel is affordable, delivers significant health benefits, has been shown to improve wellbeing, mitigates congestion, improves air quality and has no carbon emissions at the point of use. Towns and cities based around active travel will have happier and healthier citizens as well as lasting local economic benefits.
The government therefore expects local authorities to make significant changes to their road layouts to give more space to cyclists and pedestrians. Such changes will help embed altered behaviours and demonstrate the positive effects of active travel. I’m pleased to see that many authorities have already begun to do this, and I urge you all to consider how you can begin to make use of the tools in this guidance, to make sure you do what is necessary to ensure transport networks support recovery from the COVID-19 emergency and provide a lasting legacy of greener, safer transport.
Grant Shapps
Secretary of State for Transport
Traffic Management Act 2004: network management in response to COVID-19
National Travel Survey: 2019 (the fact sheets have very good graphics)
Department for Transport – Gear Change: A bold vision for cycling and walking [this is a very far-reaching document]
Local
Results of the Auckland Road Speed Survey (Jan 2019)
Croydon Reported Road Casualties
Other boroughs
Experiences of a Waltham Forest Resident
Evidence on the benefits of walking and cycling more, from Waltham Forest
King’s College London air quality report: Air Quality: concentrations, exposure and
attitudes in Waltham Forest
Streatham Hill low traffic neighbourhood
MAKE LEE GREEN: Campaigning for Low Traffic Neighbourhoods in SE12 & SE13
Ferndale Low Traffic Neighbourhood in Brixton and Clapham (great map!)
Make Fitzrovia a Low Traffic Neighbourhood
London
Health impacts of cars in London Greater London Authority, September 2015
Getting more people walking and cycling could help save our high streets – TFL November 2018
people walking, cycling and using public transport spend the most in their local shops, spending 40% more each month than car drivers
TFL report: Getting more people walking and cycling could help save our high streets 16 Nov 2018
London Streetspace Plan – Interim Guidance to Boroughs
It is estimated there will need to be around an 80 per cent reduction in public transport capacity in order to support social distancing for those who need to use it. If all 80 per cent of public transport journeys were switched to active modes instead, some boroughs would need to accommodate almost double the pre-COVID-19 levels of walking and cycling by their residents.
London Streetspace Plan
Conversely, if all car-owning households switched their usual public transport journeys to car, some boroughs would see a near doubling in the number of private transport journeys, causing massive congestion issues.
Healthy Streets and the Right to the City
London Cycling Campaign – Low Traffic Neighbourhoods
London Cycling Campaign Climate Safe Streets report, a roadmap to decarbonise the capital’s roads in the next 10 years
Because the really crazy idea has always been that we should live in cities where vast swathes of precious real estate is given over to getting around in big, heavy, low-occupancy metal boxes – not only emitting vast quantities of carbon dioxide but creating lethal levels of pollution, clogging up the arteries of our cities, and contributing to a crisis of sedentariness that is damaging public health…
The case for changing how we travel isn’t simply about staving off the worst effects of the climate emergency: it’s about a better quality of life and better health for everyone; more choice and less congestion; greater fairness, affordability and convenience; increased business and job opportunities; and thriving high streets.
Climate Safe Streets
From Croydon Council
Croydon’s Streetspace Improvement Plan (CSIP) – FAQs
Local authorities in areas with high levels of public transport use should take measures to reallocate road space to people walking and cycling, both to encourage active travel and to enable social distancing…
Central Government Guidance
Measures should be taken as swiftly as possible, and in any event within weeks, given the urgent need to change travel habits
Emergency Active Travel Funding London Streetspace Plan – Central Government Guidance, and shows that Croydon is the London borough that has the greatest potential for cyclable trips (Bromley which is 4th have done nothing)
Crystal Palace and South Norwood Low Traffic Neighbourhood, published on Croydon Council website (undated, but probably 28 August 2020)
Evaporating traffic
Sorry, it’s not really magic! There are many case studies that show significant amounts of traffic disappear. People change their mode of travel, choose alternative destinations, or the frequency of their journey, consolidated trips, take up car sharing or stop making the journey at all.
The main study brought together experience from 70 case studies of roadspace reallocation from general traffic, across 11 countries, with opinions from 200 transport professionals.
- Read the definitive report: S. Cairns, S. Atkins and P. Goodwin
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Evaporating traffic? Impact of low-traffic neighbourhoods on main roads – Emma Griffin, vice-chair, London Living Streets
This demonstrates that if councils improve the conditions for walking and cycling (and make driving just a little more inconvenient), people take the bait very quickly. And as time goes on, as active travel becomes embedded in lifestyles, more will follow leading to long-term change over an entire area.
Emma Griffin
Low-traffic neighbourhoods are not, therefore, about rewarding one group of people while punishing another: they are part and parcel of shrewd city planning, making long-term decisions about how people travel.
Waltham Forest – Comparison of vehicle numbers before and after the scheme and during the trial
Rapid Transition Alliance – Reducing roads can cause traffic to ‘Evaporate’
Rachel Aldred – Disappearing traffic?
Worldwide
Curbed – How to end traffic
