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I was on @BBCNewsnight last night talking about how changes to how we allocate street space have already changed my life.
Here’s my (quick) segment.
Here’s my (quick) segment.
You might also enjoy this hilarious clip of @SteveBTooze and I cycling along with go-pros strapped to our bikes (something I never imagined I’d do in my lifetime)
Watching @BBCNewsnight last night, you might come away thinking LTNs are a racial justice issue as much as they are an environmental one -- and you wouldn't be wrong.
Lambeth has one of the lowest car ownership rates in England -- so the number of people who drive here is already pretty low. But when you look towards our BAME community, the numbers get even lower.
Black and Black British people have the lowest car ownership rates in the country. But they are the ones who pay the price of the transport choices of their neighbours.
Despite having the lowest rates of car ownership in the country, black and black british people are 30 per cent more likely to be injured on the road than white ethnic groups.
Where race and class intersect, the cost gets even higher. Children of the lowest socioeconomic groups are up
to 28 times more likely to be killed on the roads than
those of the top socioeconomic group.
to 28 times more likely to be killed on the roads than
those of the top socioeconomic group.
Now I don't have a lot of time for folk who say only rich white people live within the @RailtonLTN. My neighbours include residents of social housing, a council estate and a care home for elders of African and Afro Caribbean origin. And that's just on my street.
But I do agree that the choices of (largely white) drivers disproportionately affect their BAME neighbours.
Every time you get in the car and take a drive, the costs of your decision are being paid by someone. And more often than not, it's them.
Every time you get in the car and take a drive, the costs of your decision are being paid by someone. And more often than not, it's them.
That's why I love @RailtonLTN so much. Because it's not designed to move traffic off one street and onto another. It's part of a wider effort to reduce car ownership in Lambeth -- just one of 7 other schemes across the borough.
And, under the governments proposed plans, this scheme will now just be one small part of a national effort to get those who don't need to drive out of their cars and on foot or on bike. It's not about diverting traffic, it's about stopping traffic.
This is a step that is necessary for our health, for the safety of our kids, for the longevity of our planet, for the strength of our communities and for the wellbeing of everyone whatever their ethnicity.
The idea that traffic will always exist and it's a cost someone will have to bear is a lie.
If we get people who don't need to drive out of their cars, the traffic will go away. @RailtonLTN is a small part in an ambitious plan to make that happen. I'm so proud to be a part of it
If we get people who don't need to drive out of their cars, the traffic will go away. @RailtonLTN is a small part in an ambitious plan to make that happen. I'm so proud to be a part of it
