💡 Let there be (green) lights - MM#578
Good day my good friend.
Well, the feedback on the first newsletter seemed to be positive. Which is great to hear. And looking at the stats, there has not been a mass exodus of subscribers. So the new era has not crashed on rocks and sunk just outside the harbour. I consider this a big win!
In all seriousness, thank you all for your kind comments. They are very much appreciated I assure you.
Mobility Camp is taking place on 26th September 2023 in Birmingham. It would be great to see you there. Get your tickets now.
If you like this newsletter, please share it with someone else who you think will love it. I will love you forever if you do. ☺️
James
🚦 Green light for the green person
Doing the rounds in the news this week in the UK has been the story that pedestrians are going to get an extra second to cross the road. The current standard ‘green man time’ is 6 seconds. For years campaigners have said this is not long enough for people with disabilities and other mobility impairments (as well as for plain old slow walkers) to cross a busy road. And so Active Travel England is now saying that the standard time should be 7 seconds.
The original 6 seconds crossing time (the time for a ‘flashing amber’ is on top of this, crossing nerds) came from research by the Transport Research Laboratory in the 1950s, that estimated an average walking speed of 1.2 metres per second. Assuming a 5 metre carriageway width, this gives 6 seconds. Needless to say that the world has changed a lot since then. We have got heavier as a population, and we seem to care a bit more about people with limited mobility now. But the standard has remained stubborn.
But there are other benefits to doing this as well as being nice to people. Extending the crossing time for pedestrians decreases the risks of collisions. Shorter crossing times disproportionately affect women as women tend to walk slower than men (mainly due to women having shorter strides on average). Furthermore, a wide range of factors affect crossing speeds of pedestrians, and so having a longer crossing times provides a ‘safety barrier’ in case they have issues crossing the road.
This won’t change the world. Nor make our places safe for pedestrians overnight. But this is a good example of marginal gains. Not the business-speak thing, but how about a small improvement in the pedestrian environment makes it better gradually in the longer term. Though big things like pedestrianisation and removing through traffic are good as well.
What you can do: Practitioners should audit each of their pedestrian crossings for their pedestrian green times. Identify those that do not meet the 7 second standard, and work with signals colleagues to prioritise (and fund) upgrades. If you are building new crossings, make sure they are at the 7 second standard from the start.
Activists should ask for a list of local signalised pedestrian crossings and their pedestrian green times (use a Freedom of Information Act request if you must). Then work with your local councillors to identify priority locations for upgrades, and lobby to get them funded.
👩💼 Co-working isn’t just for you urbanites
One thing that really annoys me is how far too many people who grew up in major cities come to rural areas and try and suggest an urban solution to a rural problem. Stuff like saying “just do demand responsive transport” in areas inhabited by one man and his dog with no other person for 11 miles. Still, because government is saying that rural mobility is a priority (still waiting on that rural strategy, DfT) and extremely clever people in big corporate consultancies have rural mobility in their pitch decks, it must be important. Rural areas must have their needs understood before you suggest a solution.
One area where, through understanding rural needs first, this may be an exception is co-working hubs. This excellent Daily Yonder article on practice in the USA gives two variations on the idea - one of a company opening up its own space to other organisations, and variations of the charging model to better suit rural businesses which favour longer term rents as opposed to turn up and go office space.
A good example of such hubs is the Connected Hubs initiative in the Republic of Ireland. Who have helpfully produced guidance on how to create such co-working spaces. The transport benefits are clear: less longer distance commuting, lower emissions, development of local supply chains and keeping investment in the local economy. Don’t rely on your nearest town for everything when you can make your own hub, and avoid the need to travel from rural areas at all.
What you can do: Practitioners should consider rural co-working hubs as a transport policy initiative when developing their new transport plans. Identify opportunities to work with community groups and provide seed funding (capital or revenue) to leverage funding from elsewhere. Above all, read the Connected Hubs guidance on how to make these things work.
🎓 From academia
The clever clogs at our universities have published the following excellent research. Where you are unable to access the research, email the author - they may give you a copy of the research paper for free.
TL:DR - An essential part of planning for the future is resilience planning.
How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect driver speed selection and crash risk on rural freeways?
TL:DR - When traffic is restricted (in this case lockdowns), traffic speeds go up but incidents go down.
Sharing when stranger equals danger: Ridesharing during Covid-19 pandemic
TL:DR - Health risks can increase the willingness to pay for ride sharing.
TL:DR - People from different cultural backgrounds see city spaces differently.
✊ Awesome people doing awesome things
A big shout out to London Mayor Sadik Khan this week. Its seems that the senior leadership in the UK Labour Party has lost its mind over not winning last week’s by-election in Uxbridge, as the Tories held on (just) by making a big play on ULEZ and opposing it.
Instead of showing the spine of a jellyfish, Sadik Khan said that ULEZ is the right thing to do and he is doing it. But he is seeing what else can be done to make the transition easier. The right balance of leadership and listening. Kier Starmer take note.
Got someone doing something awesome in transport decarbonisation, transport justice, or transport safety who deserves a shout out? Let me know about them.
📼 On the (You)Tube
Traffic, and particularly where it is really bad, is often not where you think it is. So if you think that in Japan, traffic in Tokyo is bad (it is), apparently this place is worse.
What you can do: You can find data on traffic congestion in your area online in many countries. In the UK, this can include TomTom, the Department for Transport, and traffic flow data from Azure (needs knowledge of APIs). Identify where it is bad, and use that as a basis to identify solutions that prioritise sustainable modes of transport.
🖼️ Graphic Design
Oh, New Mexico. Your fatality rate for pedestrians is really, really, really bad. As is much of the southern part of the USA, to be fair.
What you can do: Get the data on pedestrian fatalities in your area. In the USA, Crashstats is your best bet. In the UK, use Cyclestreets. For professionals: start weighting pedestrian fatalities more highly when assessing priority locations for investment in road safety. For activists: ask your local road safety lead what is being done, and request pedestrian crossing upgrades as a priority. Learning of values of road traffic fatalities will help you.
📚 Random things
These links are meant to make you think about the things that affect our world in transport, and not just think about transport itself. I hope that you enjoy them.
Emissions are no longer following the worst case scenario (The Climate Brink)
Belfast’s past continues to shape its present and future (City Monitor)
Wild Donkeys Are on the Vanguard of Ukraine’s Ecological Recovery (Wired)
Climate Change Goes to Court (Slate)
When Can There Be a Fall in the Rate of Profit? (Peoples Democracy)
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