COP26 was, well…
Good day my good friend.
I’m just coming back from the COP26 Transport Day. While there has been a lot of immediate reaction, my feelings on the day are much more mixed, and I’m still figuring out how I feel it went. Maybe I might write a few words in the coming days. Anyway, enough pondering, here are the links especially curate for you.
James
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Dublin and the big scheme fallacy
If the big project in your strategy is the one thing that fails in it, is it a failure of a strategy? The reason I pose this is because there has been a lot of discussion about Dublin’s Draft Transport Plan. So much so Údarás Náisiúnta Iompair have had to issue a big clarification on the plan on their website. For what its worth, it looks like a good if slightly guarded plan to me. But it poses a question on what is the threshold for strategy failure?
There is a lot of talk about how strategies fail and why, but not what is the threshold for failure. And there is very little research on this. For what its worth, I feel that in transport when one or two schemes in a strategy fail, we are too quick to write them off as failures. But that failure needs to be judged against performance on several key metrics, which we too often ignore.
Let’s stop thinking traffic management solutions will meaningfully tackle air pollution
Much of the debate around Low Traffic Neighbourhoods has been around their impacts on air quality. Or simply whether the schemes simply move the problem from one area to another. New research by Lu et al looked at the impact of restricting non-local traffic in Shanghai on air quality. Their results in summary are that the reductions in gaseous emissions (Nitrogen Dioxide) are big, but the reductions in particle emissions are very small. This somewhat reflects previous analysis that indicates that the link between traffic management strategies and improving air quality is a weak one.
Whilst an absence of evidence does not mean the link does not exist, we need to have our interventions based on evidence. There is evidence that such interventions are having an impact on trips, but when such schemes are being sold on their air quality benefits then I have to call bulls**t on it. Many of these schemes already have lots of benefits without having to make stuff up. Be better.
Making it harder for people to drive after a skinful is a good thing
Here is your good news for today. Statistics from the UK Department for Transport shows that the number of people failing breath tests by the roadside is going down, ducking under 200000 people for the first time since the statistics starting being collected. That’s still roughly 200000 too many people driving whilst drunk, but progress is progress. But I’m glad to see that many people are thinking the same.
One of the unreported bits of the US Infrastructure Bill is that from 2026, new cars will have to have installed technology that stops people from driving cars when they are drunk. They have no idea what the tech will be yet, and a breathlyser is unlikely to cut the mustard on this (there is a reason why, in the UK, roadside test results are inadmissable in court). But regardless, this is a welcome step in the right direction.
Random things
More randomness just for you. Aren’t I nice?
Superpedestrian launches e-scooter ‘passes’ in Europe (Intelligent Transport)
Re-imagining transport will require people-friendly tools (TransportXtra)
Our Worst Idea About “Safety” (Slate)
Interesting things
Visualising other forms of infrastructure is always fun. Based upon OpenStreetMap data, this is the global network of power lines. While some countries are clearly in HD, others are very much in low resolution (looking at you, Australia).
If you do nothing else today, then do this
Download and play the original Railroad Tycoon for free. I have only one question to ask. WHY WAS I NOT INFORMED OF THIS EARLIER?!!?
Mobility Matters 