Mobility Matters Daily #104 - Autonomous vehicle laws, the Commonwealth Games, and protest
Today's stats will interest football fans among you.
Good morning friend.
Nothing snappy today from me, just straight into the stories. Enjoy.
James
The UK moves a step closer on legislating for automated vehicles
Work on creating an automated vehicle legislative framework in the UK continues apace, with the Law Commission recently publishing its Summary of Responses to the Consultation Paper on A regulatory framework for automated vehicles in the UK. Its dense on detail, but the foundations that are being used to create the recommended regulatory framework, and the Law Commissions final report, are interesting. They are (as quoted):
Flexibility. Many stakeholders placed a strong emphasis on the ability to revise and update regulation for AVs. The uncertainties and fast evolution of the technologies mean the legal system needs to be adaptable;
The need for clear guidance about what it takes to meet regulatory requirements, while focusing on outcomes rather than prescribing how these should be achieved, in a technology-neutral way;
The importance of a learning culture which monitors how vehicles operate in practice, and investigates and understands incidents;
A prominent role for local transport authorities within the regulatory scheme. The deployment of AVs needs to support, rather than undermine, local transport strategies;
The need to maintain harmony with international regulations, as well as fit withother policy in areas outside the scope of this review - such as connectivity, cybersecurity and infrastructure.
In my view, all sound principles. The regulatory framework needs to be adaptive to learn (though not necessarily light touch), local authorities need a role (they need the skills first), and maintaining consistency with other regulations is a good enabler. The devil is in the detail, but I am encouraged by the Law Commission’s line of thinking on this.
The West Midlands reveals its plans for the Commonwealth Games
How do you get a lot of people into and out of an area hosting a major sporting event, and do so sustainably? Arguably, the major cities of the UK do this at least every other weekend during the football season, but hosting a major games is another beast entirely. And the West Midlands has set out its plan for managing the Commonwealth Games in 2022.
In short, its good. Tickets for local public transport included in the ticket price, new park and ride facilities, and green routes for walking and cycling. Major games can be a great catalyst to invest in transport improvements that have a lasting legacy. But as evidence from the Rio Olympics shows, it can also worsen existing divides through poor investment. But from my glance at WMCA’s plans, they appear to have learned many of the lessons of London 2012.
Protest is over-rated
A recent event by the Transport Planning Society on the role of protests in transport planning got me to thinking - is protest an effective way of delivering change in transport policy? Ask people who took part in the protests and it will either be a hard yes or a hard no. But what does the evidence say?
You won’t be shocked to hear that direct links are often inferred as opposed to evidence. Talk of changing the wider political narrative like in Freiberg, whilst interviews with Copenhagen officials touched on the importance of politics in changing policy. But the politics of protest varies and the results of the impact of protests on public policy are mixed. A mixture of factors affect legitimacy and the perception of it. For me, protest can play an important role in change, but its influence is often overstated. Change is not that simple.
Stat of the Day
Am I going football crazy? That ship has sailed, really. But every year the English Football League (not the Premier League for non-football fans) surveys the fanbase of 72 teams, and finds out how they travel to and from games. The car is very popular, but the data also shows that the rail network is critical for away fans going to see their team.
Source: EFL Supporters Survey 2019
If you don’t do anything else today, do this
Use Streetmix to create your ideal urban street, or to redesign an existing one.