Time to tackle the car culture

The role of the car in everyday life is a hot topic of the moment. The government has justed enacted some changes to the highway code, intended to make life a little safer for everyone on the road. Pedestrians and cyclists should be safer as a result. The response of some car drivers in the letters pages of national newspapers show an incredible intolerance. There were calls for cycles to be licenced, pay a tax etc. The attitude was one of the car drivers actually own the roads, rather than are just one of a number of groups that use them. The behaviour of many drivers toward cyclists and pedestrians is dangerous. People need to realise a car is a lethal weapon in the wrong hands, several tonnes of metal driven at speed can cause incredible harm. The tensions between motorists and cyclist have been growing over the years. There are a number of cyclists who break the laws, jumping red lights, cycling on pavements etc. This does not help. Equally, some motorists cut up cyclists and generally try to make life difficult. These tensions seem to have increased over the period of the pandemic. The answer to these problems are better cycle lanes and off road facilities for cyclists. Cyclists and pedestrians need to feel safe. Car drivers also need to have life made easier for them on the roads, with better traffic flow. The Mayor of London has a target of getting 80 per cent of travel by foot, cycle or public transport by 2041. Unfortunately, this target has slipped over the period of the pandemic, with more people getting into their cars. There is though significant ongoing investment in the infrastructure that will encourage these active forms of travel to prosper. A big challenge in Wanstead is to get more active travel At times, it seems as if we're living on a traffic island. New Wanstead, the High Street, Cambridge Park and Blakehall Road can all be clogged up with cars belching pollution, particularly at the weekend. The noise pollution from roads, like the A406, seems to grow daily. The arrival of the Ultra Low Emissions Zone in October will help by removing some polluting vehicles. The School Street schemes help to cut traffic and get parents and children using other modes of transport to get to school. There have been schemes brought in at the Church and Aldersbrook schools but some opposition elsewhere. We really do need to move to tackle pollution, which means fewer and cleaner cars. There has been a roll out of electric charging points across the borough. This will help encourage people to get electric cars, though they remain too expensive for many people. Speeding has also been a growing problem recently, something the police and council are acting to address. A cycling network is beginning slowly to take shape, with new cycle lanes coming to Blakehall, Aldersbrook, Centre and Lakehouse Roads. Wanstead Park is also now a free running space for cyclists. Cycle hangars are also being rolled out across the area. Much is happening but always more is needed. Modal shift in transport of the type promoted by the Mayor and TFL can only happen if alternative means of travel to the car are made cheaper and safer. This needs proper investment from central government. The health and welfare of Londoners should not be put at stake in a political tug of war over TFL funding due to the ravages caused to income by the pandemic. We all need to move forward together in a modal shift that can see a cleaner, greener London emerge. There remains much to be done.