Although we have finally woken up to the damage to health caused by decades of breathing in emissions from vehicle exhausts, we have yet to see any action on the issues surrounding car congestion and speed.
Electric cars will reduce emissions eventually, but they are unaffordable for the majority at present. Furthermore, the demand for lithium and cobalt (set to soar in the next two decades) for electric car production has led to child labour and terrible working conditions for miners.
Whilst the purchase of electric cars has been subsidised by the taxpayer, other electric vehicles such as bikes have been ignored.
Electric bicycles give us the power to transform how we travel by putting cycling within the reach of everyone. Sadly, uptake is limited due to real and perceived concerns about safety on the highway due to speed and congestion. Safety fears restrict the independence of children and undermine physical and mental wellbeing.
Government statistics record that in 2020, 25% of car trips were under 1 mile, and 71% under 5 miles. Journeys of that length could easily be done by an electric bike for less than a pound.
Most hills are easily tackled by an electric bike and there are huge physical and mental health benefits to light exercise in fresh air. So even with all its advantages, when cars continue to dominate the highway, electric bike use is crowded out. With a very limited cycle network, the highway is dominated by vehicles travelling at life-threatening speeds.
One way to encourage bike and scooter use is to designate all B roads or less as multi-user routes, and adjust the speed limit on those to 30mph, or 20mph in residential communities.
There is an argument for maintaining the current speed limit on motorways and A roads but nationally there would be huge advantages in reducing the speed on the remainder of the highway. The small increase in journey times would be outweighed by the many benefits of multi-user use and the reduction in carbon emissions over the next few decades.
Currently communities fight for speed restrictions over many years, and achieve them, if at all, at a high financial cost for local authorities and taxpayers. When we are out campaigning, congestion, speeding and inappropriate parking are high on the list of concerns in village communities. Competent planning and legislation at national level could achieve substantial health, equality, environmental and economic benefits. Maybe this is something our local MPs might want to lead on?
Jill Perry
