Campaigning to give people space to move in ways that are safe, green, healthy and fair
Roads were first paved for people walking and cycling, not for vehicles. Since the invention of the car, space has been increasingly robbed for motorised vehicles, meaning people have often been forced to the sidelines, facing danger, becoming casualties and breathing polluted air when trying to move around their communities and between places.
Around the world, the Liveable Cities movement (which calls for cities for people) and Vision Zero movement (which calls for an end to road casualties) are gaining momentum. The United Nations New Urban Agenda (signed in November 2016) included powerful declarations in support of these movements. Cities are starting to change, including here in the UK, but the speed of change needs to increase.
What are we calling for?
- city and town planners to transform where we live into "liveable" space, prioritising and enabling the needs of people on foot and bicycles through segregated and prioritised space, and ensuring traffic speeds are reduced and public transport made accessible.
- restrictions on the types of large vehicles we allow in our towns and cities. Trucks and buses must have good direct vision (driver is able to see more around their vehicle to enable them to see people on foot, bicycles and motorcycles) and indirect vision (mirrors and cameras). High-polluting vehicles must be banned as part of ultra-low emission zones.
- our towns, cities and road networks to be fitted with accessible refuelling points for ultra-low emission vehicles.
- a comprehensive network of segregated routes for cyclists between places, as part of the modernisation of our Strategic Road Network (A roads and motorways). Cycling is a fast mode of transport but carries high risks on rural roads, particularly ones with high speeds.
- the needs of motorcyclists to be considered centrally by planners; they are also vulnerable road users and often hit at junctions in towns and cities and on high speed rural roads. A significant number of casualties on our roads are motorcyclists.
- development of automated vehicles with the needs of people on foot and bicycles prioritised. Automation must not result in reduction of space for walking or cycling, loss of public transport, increase in pollution or increased risk for people.