Good day my good friend.
Apparently some railway opened yesterday. Not much was made of it, so it sounds pretty unimportant. Anyway, what did you you get up to?
If you have any suggestions for interesting news items or bits of research to include in this newsletter, you can email me.
James
You don’t want to be exposed to air pollution? Ride a bicycle or walk
One of my pet peeves is how, when there are warnings about poor air quality in a city, people are discouraged from walking and cycling to avoid the effects of air pollution. Not only is victim-blaming, but its bad public health advice. As this study shows, people in cars can actually be exposed to more air pollution than those using active travel. Well, sometimes anyway…
Higher average concentrations and higher peaks of NO2 and O3 were observed for in-car measurements in comparison to the active journeys. In contrast, slightly higher concentrations of PM2.5 were seen in the active commutes in comparison to a driving commute via electric car, with higher variability in cycling than in car or walking journeys…However, when considering commuter inhalation rates and longer journey times to account for inhaled pollutant dosage, we estimated that the active commuter inhaled higher dosages of all pollutants measured in comparison to the driver.
You want your city to be more gender-inclusive? Build bike lanes!
Thank you to Francis Ostermeijer for pointing out this article on creating inclusive roads in New York City. Its conclusion is a really simple one. Build more bike lanes:
More precisely, we find that dedicated cycling infrastructure increases women’s participation in cycling by 4% to 6%. This corroborates the hypothesis that both genders are more likely to take a transport mode when it is safer, with a larger response for the subgroup of women…We also find suggestive evidence that women’s participation in cycling mainly increases for routes that are covered by at least 50% with protected bike lanes, and that the biggest uptake comes from routes for which more than 80% can be ridden on a protected cycling lane.
Random things
These links are meant to make you think about the things that affect our world in transport, and not just think about transport itself. I hope that you enjoy them.
A new Earth rises (aeon)
How Rapid Reinfection Has Changed the Covid Fight (New Republic)
Why The U.S. Gives Monster SUVs Five-Star Safety Ratings and What You Can Do About It (NACTO)
Toyota cuts vehicle production over global chip shortage (The Register)
Something interesting
Apparently, giving up an electric car and going car free will be better for the environment than having a plant-based diet.
If you do nothing else today, then do this
Read this report by the ITF on AI and crash prevention. I can’t believe that I missed it. Its essentially ‘we met and discussed this,’ but its really good.
Mobility Matters 