Monthly Archives: March 2008

An alternative to road pricing?

Posted on by Posted in cars, environment, inspiration 1 Comment

Copenhagen has been trying to implement road pricing (like London’s Congestion Charge), but is being blocked by central government. So…

he has now proposed something City Hall calls ‘Intelligent Traffic Control’.

It involves setting up sensors that measure air pollution in Copenhagen and the levels of pollution they report will regulate the traffic heading into the city.

If the pollution levels are too high on any particular day, all the traffic lights on the main roads into the city will turn red and stay red longer than normal. The time the traffic lights are green will be reduced by 10 percent.

More genius from Copenhazanize: Intelligent Traffic Control in Copenhagen.

Darlington is a flagship for transport policy. Discuss.

Posted on by Posted in local motion

A CONFERENCE is being held in Darlington to examine its flagship transport scheme, Local Motion, and help steer towns across the country in the right direction.

Darlington is the only highway authority in England to have secured funding worth about £4.75m to become a sustainable travel and cycling demonstration town.

The free day-long conference on Wednesday, April 2, at the Dolphin Leisure Centre will highlight the successful and failed projects.

– The Northern Echo: Flagship travel town leads the way (The comments are revealing.)

Shared Space in Drachten Revisited

Posted on by Posted in cycling in Europe, infrastructure, inspiration, pedestrians, traffic calming

Last year two members of the Cycling Campaign visited an example of Shared Space in Drachten, Netherlands. You can see our original post and video here.

Since that visit, the Space’s designers have posted an assessment of its impact on YouTube. Here it is. Some highlights stand out, when considering its implications for Darlington:

*It is a roundabout where 22,000 vehicles daily pass by. I wonder how these numbers compare with, say, the Victoia Road/Grange Road roundabout, where a solution for a cycle crossing is yet to be implemented?

*We have no queues anymore.

*The interaction around the roundabout – meeting each other, greeting each other. This refers to how car drivers and cyclists relate on the roundabout. Imagine!!!

David Cameron

Posted on by Posted in stories 1 Comment

Velorution has an interesiting post commenting upon David Cameron’s cycling misdemeanours: Velorution: Safe Cameron.

this is the order of importance that should guide urban road facilities:
1. Safety of vulnerable road users, (pedestrians and cyclists)
2. Safety of motor vehicle drivers,
3. Convenience of vulnerable road users,
4. Convenience of motor vehicle drivers.

If a facility puts, say, the convenience of motorists ahead of the safety of vulnerable road users, it is reasonable to disregard it.