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Bike Parka – Winter protection for your bicycle

Autumn signals to cyclists that it’s time to dig out base layers, hats, gloves and extra lights. But what about protecting your bicycle from the ravages of winter? Keeping a bicycle under cover protects it from wet weather and prying eyes, but with urban areas short on garages and sheds, for many it’s easier said than done. When a manufacturer…

E-scooters and UK law

The UK is the last major European economy where e-scooters are still banned to use anywhere except on private land. However, the legal status of e-scooters isn’t stopping them from being bought in huge numbers. Nobody knows for certain how many e-scooters have been sold in the UK but Halfords has seen its own sales more than double over lockdown…

London councils that tear out LTNs face funding loss

Ealing Council in London may yet regret its decision to this week tear out seven recently installed low-traffic neighbourhood schemes. While many local authorities around the UK acknowledge the environmental benefits of reducing traffic levels, Ealing Council, alongside fellow London councils Harrow, Hillingdon, Kensington & Chelsea, Redbridge, Sutton and Wandsworth) risk losing funding as a result of scrapping schemes prematurely.…

Can we please pedestrianise pavements?

It’s been illegal to drive on the pavement since 1883. However, one of the reasons footways the length and breadth of the land have been obstructed by cars for the last 138 years is that police have to witness a car being driven on the pavement in order to enforce the law. Pavement parking; the pandemic we refuse to tackle…

Google maps to encourage drivers to take low-carbon routes, but not modes

Google Maps is to launch a new function that takes into account congestion and inclines to offer drivers the lowest-carbon route for their journey. The internet giant, which is launching the initiative in America this week and Europe next year, claims it could save 1m tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, or the equivalent of 200,000 fewer cars on the…