This is so scary.
Chartered Civil Engineer working in the world of active travel 🚴♀️ 🌍 Likes to talk about transport, urbanism, climate change, the environment and nature ❤️ Mum to two boys, a dog and a cargo bike. Laka insurance referral code: AYCD2
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This is so scary.
I quite agree!
That's what I've always said! It replaces butter, and you'd never attempt to spread butter over jam.
Home! Here endeth my Cornwall holiday thread, hope you liked my random photos ☺️ Stopped at a farm shop on the way home, thought I'd share this snap which illustrates my lifelong - and very firm - opinion on the great scone debate.
Would be nice to be able to use these on all residential sections of public highway...
Tintagel Haven, accessible only at low tide. What a beaut! 😎
I love that the general public are trusted to negotiate these steps; in this day and age I wouldn't have been surprised for the mezzanine that this leads to, to be closed off. This is inside the old post office in Tintagel, a small National Trust property.
Oh wow! I did some reading about it when we got home after our visit and watched some of the old BBC footage - it was quite something. It rained heavily here yesterday and I thought how, for the residents of Boscastle,it must feel very worrying anytime they get a lot of rain...
Lots of onshore wind turbines in Cornwall. Personally I don't think they negatively impact the scenic landscape at all. Excuse the rubbish photo (taken by my son whilst I was driving)!
We didn't actually go in as I had my dog with me and they're not allowed. I might see if I can nip back without him as I would like to visit!
Boscastle. You may remember the devastating flash floods here in 2004 (I presume it was national news and not just down south!) and on a dry summer's day like today when the river is barely a trickle, it's hard to believe that the water level rose, in a couple of hours, to roof height.
*Our new LTN paper out today* Do 'boundary road' junctions with minor roads get safer when minor roads are filtered (i.e. closed to through-traffic)? We tested this using police-reported casualty data (2012–24) from 113 London Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) introduced between 2015–24. 1/
Obligatory family holiday Scrabble game...my youngest child won (and not through me letting him!) 🙈
Yes I'm gonna try and persuade him to go again later in the week.
Ha ha yes! Doesn't help that he's still recovering from falling out of a tree the other week, that one needed an a&e visit with a suspected broken arm 🙄
Zoom in for evidence of yesterday's mountain biking fail...we had to pick grit out of his hand with tweezers, poor boy 😥
Happy birthday @chrisboardman.bsky.social 🎈
Yes! Also this one which is bigger: maps.app.goo.gl/UkA4VAWnRVYW...
Gotta love England. This was built in 13-something.
Didn't take a photo as I was driving and couldn't be bothered to stop, but there's some...interesting shared space/implied roundabouts in Bodmin. Some drivers seemed very confused by them. Also took this photo of some nice granite kerbs in Tintagel.
Nice to see that the cycle hire place had recumbent trikes, too ☺️
Visited Lanhydrock today (National Trust place) - they have some really good mountain bike trails! It's so rare that I ride a bike just for fun, and I'm really not used to big wide handlebars and extremely nippy brakes - but I didn't stack it (unlike my 13 year old who has some serious scrapes) 🤣
So many of those! And far too many range rovers 🤬
Really when the roads are so narrow and winding, particularly near/through villages, there is no sensible alternative!
I've had a crazy couple of weeks at work so this break away from it all is just what I needed. Been here less than 24 hours so far and have already read most of a book, and feeling very relaxed 😎 Cheers!
Little electric buses to assist people who need it back up the hill.
Yes I've noticed that too ☺️
Bin lorries scaled down to fit on little village roads 👍
Lots of 20mph in Cornwall these days (not very well observed though, as far as I've seen!)
Competition for most scenic bench?
My Cornish holiday thread (expect scenery spam with dog photos plus random engineering/highway things that are interesting to me 😁)
So much for my early night...car on its roof outside my house having smashed into two of my neighbours' cars. Just gave a statement to police as I saw the occupants exit the vehicle. My son saw the crash happen out of his bedroom window! Driver and passenger unhurt and arrested.
Not a big sexy project, but little schemes like this are quietly nibbling away at making our active travel networks more joined up and accessible.
They can (and do sometimes) register speed as a factor, even when below the speed limit, but not always. E.g. the contributing factor could be stated as "failure to look" even though a lower speed could have reduced the likelihood or severity of the collision.
Remember this when people quote collision data and say that "speed isn't a factor" so reducing the speed limit won't positively affect road safety. It's always a factor, despite what the police write in their incident report.
It's hard to believe that vehicles with large blind spots are legal to drive on public roads.
Never seen anyone as happy as Rory right there 🤣
Physical inactivity is estimated to cost the UK £7.4 billion annually (including £0.9 billion to the NHS alone). Active travel is one of the best return on investment decisions governments can make. Yet people are still having to campaign for better infrastructure and funding.
Just a couple of lycra-maniacs not using that ridiculously expensive cycle infrastructure that nobody uses and nobody wants because everybody wants to drive everywhere...
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I pretty much gave up using mine because editing the footage was such a pain!
The global phenomenon of “bikelash” has become one of the biggest barriers to implementing interventions that make our streets more liveable, accessible and sustainable. So how do we best manage it as advocates for change? Here are eight strategies we recently presented at the Velo-city Conference.🧵
Edit to say: it's actually the youngest (11) that I went with. Just got home and the teenager is still in bed 🙄
I think this might be the actual life. Early rise, cycle down to the beach with my eldest and a hot drink, stopping at the bakery en route to pick up pastries. Best time of day to sit on the beach, before it gets busy - just the sounds of the sea and the occasional gull. Great start to the day ☺️
Soon they can give ME a ride! 😁
I really like Rotterdam 🙂
Bournemouth promenade ☺️
My boys are too big/cool for the cargo bike now, so it totally warmed my heart to give my friend's little boys a ride today 🥰
I never tire of this view 😍
Sadly not, just the M1 to the pub cos it's too hot to walk! 🤣
Front seat of a double decker bus - what a way to travel! 😁
I presume they seal the opening of the container that contains the liquid?
Is it really necessary to have on every bin within spitting distance of a vape shop? 🤬
Took a couple of infra photos for my collection too, obvs. Much to my 13-year old's chargrin 😉
In the big smoke today with my eldest, who is a huge Nirvana fan, to see the Kurt Cobain exhibition at the Royal College of Music. Only a small exhibition but well worth a visit. Always makes me feel sad, though, thinking about Kurt. 😔 Also an opportunity to wonder at Exhibition Row 🤔
Storefronts don’t get more visible when they’re buried behind a wall of oversized SUVs. Bikes and pedestrians bring eyes to windows and feet through doors. Street parking does neither. Support mobility infrastructure over street parking and tear down the 4-wheeled wall to thriving commerce.
Incidents like this don't happen in a vacuum. The media narrative against cyclists has emboldened people to be violent towards them. Yesterday it was a mum pushed into a canal, today an older lady pushed off a prom. Despicable, yet I'm not surprised 😔 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
The thing is (and I do get your point) - school crossing patrollers only operate for ~2 hours per day. Most roads would benefit from having a formal crossing point 24/7. Also, the peak traffic congestion around most schools is usually only for about a 15 minute window, so chaos is short-lived.
I'm not sure, but to me it sounds as though they're saying that making peds wait for up to 30 seconds is fine...?
I feel as though Living Streets are setting the bar way too low on this one. 30 seconds feels like an AGE, especially when it's raining, or you've got young children with you, or the footway is narrow. Junctions are a different matter, but for standalone crossings 10 seconds or less is plenty!
I'm amazed it's that high, actually! Certainly feels rarer than that in these parts. Compliance when turning out of the side road is better. I will read the study later but I'd be interested to know whether speed is a factor - I'm convinced that drivers are more likely to yield at 20mph than 30mph.
I have no fingernails left!
To think there are some people who think cricket is boring! 😉 Brilliant #TestMatchSpecial
Oh but it does! You can't change speed limits without a consultation, and each and every consultation on this now attracts controversy. It's hard going!
I've heard that, I'd love to go up and visit sometime, never been to Bradford.
Absolutely!
Everyone needs access to trees and green space. Not just those who live in the countryside, or who have a car and can drive there. Not just those who can afford to live on leafy avenues with big gardens. Street trees and parks in urban areas are absolutely essential - and will become even more so.
Good price for a Jorvik e-trike if anyone knows someone looking for one? £1500 www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/j...
One of them came on a trip to Poole last weekend! 🤣
Well I mostly work from home and have just finished - it's 6.30pm on Friday. I actually find I am much more likely to work late when WFH as I just carry on, don't have cleaners coming in, colleagues saying bye and reminding me it's home time, people tempting me to go to the pub etc...
If our towns and suburbs were better equipped for walking, wheeling, cycling and getting about by means other than the car, people wouldn't suddenly get to a point where they can't drive anymore and therefore can no longer participate in society. Nobody should HAVE to drive to live.
The real issue is that so many of these elderly people really believe (and probably correctly) that their lives will effectively be over if they can't drive. And that's because their life to date, their neighbourhood and our whole society is built entirely around driving.
Excellent work Ben! Does/will this include changes to allow " invalid carriages" (change that terminology for a start!) to use cycle lanes?
I haven't watched the video but there are some poor-quality sections of NCN25. Generally it's pretty good (and some great sections!) but there are a few dodgy junctions etc. Designs underway for some of them!
I was so enraged earlier 🤬 Walked a short distance to the supermarket along a congested main road, slow moving traffic. So many drivers brazenly messing about on their phones. One moved forwards without looking up, missed an elderly cyclist by inches. What can we do about this epidemic?
That is awesome 😍
Sadly they are becoming more and more popular in the UK too 😩 In fact there's one near me with a canadian flag across the rear windscreen, and the license plate B1G B0B (or similar) 🤢 I love Canada but you guys can keep your horrible trucks, thank you!
Surely it's electric assist bikes? You have the pedal, and the electric assists...
What a sweet photo! 😍
Good work capturing this. It's convenient for people to forget that "cyclists" include folks like this - and that it's infrastructure such as protected cycle tracks and bus stop bypasses that allow this family to travel. The more photos like this floating around, the better! 😊
This one seemed to be after the baklava! 🤣
Mooch to the local shops, swing by the library, make friends with a (very!) friendly kitty. Walking is good 😊
You're welcome anytime! I did civil engineering at Southampton too 😁
Had a great day showing a visitor some of our great schemes, for part of our local ATE capability assessment. Love showcasing what we've done, and explaining what else is on the way! ☺️
I know these multi-sports pitches in parks can be problematic and are usually dominated by boys, but I'm sitting here watching my two boys play with a random bunch of boys and girls they don't know, a mix of ages and ethnicities and they are all having such a lovely time 😊
On Friday night my friend was the first at the scene of a car crash outside her house. Five vehicles involved, four of which were parked. One speeding, drunk driver managed to cause thousands upon thousands of pounds worth of damage, and it's pure luck that he didn't kill anybody. But, cyclists!
There's a guy near me who cycles to the beach pulling his kayak behind him on a little trailer - it can be done!
I don't know why but I'd already thought it was going to be Oct. I like these articles where they try to present it from both sides, but it's like: "I'm disabled and I literally can't go anywhere safely with cars parked everywhere" Vs "drivers are sad they might not be able to park by their house"
Luckily to get that in some places 😂
I'm also musing on the fact that Nynex/Virgin Media cables were installed so shabbily round here that you barely need to scratch most of our footways without hitting one...
Fair point.
I'm really uneasy about these, for all the reasons discussed. I also wonder how people will like them when they realise how much crud these gulleys will collect, and that will end up all over the cable...
Me and my shopping trolley popping to the shops 💪
Poole Harbour looking stunning this morning 🩵
Great! Countries shouldn't be importing food from thousands of miles away when they have it available on their doorstep. Let's not try to make it sound like a bad thing!
A prime example of how a high modal share of cycling doesn't "just happen" in the Netherlands. Meanwhile here, you have people literally fighting to park their car as close to the beach as possible, parking IN other people's driveways, parking on roundabouts etc!
It always amuses me when I see these kinds of signs in other countries, seems so weird.
Tut tut, naughty. Still, if nothing else these things prove that drivers don't need the entire footway to be sloped, a short sharp ramp does the job and keeps the footway level.
