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news
Southfields LTN in LB Ealing (picture Simon MacMichael)Rishi Sunak pledges to “stop war on motorists” and review LTNs
Rishi Sunak – who as Chancellor of the Exchequer not only pursued the same policy as Conservative predecessors in the post for the past 12 years in freezing fuel duty, but earlier this year actually cut it – has pledged to halt what he says is “the war on motorists” if elected leader of the party next month, which would see him succeed Boris Johnson as Prime Minister.
The Tory politician also said he would review low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) which aim to stop rat-running drivers use residential streets as short cuts to avoid congestion, halt the rollout of smart motorways, and tighten regulation of private parking contractors, reports Wales Online.
Sunak, who trails Liz Truss in the polls in the leadership contest which will be decided by Conservative Party members, has been described by his supporters as the “most pro-driver Chancellor in history.”
He said: “The UK is a passionate driving nation because driving provides freedom.
“We need to stop making life difficult for the vast majority of people across the UK who rely on a car as their primary source of transport to healthcare, employment and other essential day-to-day things.
“As Chancellor, I introduced the largest cut to fuel duty in a generation, and as Prime Minister I will go further so that we stop the war on motorists once and for all.”
His plans to review LTNs are said to be based on his belief that they impede police, fire and ambulance vehicles, despite what Cycling UK has described as “clear evidence” to the contrary and the fact they are supported by the emergency services themselves.
> “Clear evidence” does not support “flat earther” LTN 999 delay headlines, says Cycling UK
His comments come at the end of a week in which former cabinet colleague, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, suggested that cyclists should be required to carry third-party insurance, be subject to the same speed limits as motorists, and have number plates on their bikes – although he subsequently rowed back on that latter point.
> “No plans to introduce registration plates” for cyclists, insists Grant Shapps
At the height of the pandemic, Shapps and Johnson strongly promoted cycling and walking as a key part of the country’s recovery and encouraged councils to set up LTNs – a policy opposed by many of their own MPs, as well as a number of Tory-run local authorities and whichever of Truss or Sunak gets the keys to Number 10 Downing Street next month, it is highly unlikely that support active travel will be high up their agenda.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
Latest Comments
- David9694 2 sec ago
When you don't know for sure what the whinge would be if this work was postponed to January, but you know there would be one:...
- the little onion 18 min 53 sec ago
Am I missing something, or is there no mention in the story about a licence being handed in? The driver has to do some kind of awareness course,...
- biking59boomer 40 min 50 sec ago
Sadly the cyclist hate in this country seems to have worsened of late. Dangerous motoring combined with anti-cycling officialdom in some places is...
- Rendel Harris 41 min 12 sec ago
Spartan response to Philip II of Macedon ("If I invade Laconia you shall never rise again!" Spartan response: "If.") I think, a century after...
- chrisonabike 1 hour 5 min ago
Votes for rat-runs then!...
- pockstone 1 hour 45 min ago
Casting is completed for the remake of Scorsese's 'Last temptation of Christ':
- Cyclo1964 3 hours 12 min ago
Brilliant 🤣
- joules1975 6 hours 6 min ago
Fair enough, but to describe the tool required for the lockrings as 'niche' when its a readily available in various forms from dozens of...
- Secret_squirrel 7 hours 39 sec ago
Disappointed that the not even in the land of the free do they shoot or jail bike thieves.
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128 comments
Can't we just warm ourselves round a bonfire of regulations?
Or a bonfire of Conservative Party politicians... Mmm: bacon...
It's 19 degrees sovereignty in my house all year round.
Anyway here's a link to someone else's opinion on Corbyn. AFAIK he hasn't been sued for libel yet.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/corbyn-who-sought-israels-demise-is-an-ant...
Thanks for providing irrefutable proof of the fake anti-semitism Corbyn was accused of.
Just the IHRA definition of antisemitism.
Which I'm sure you reject for ... reasons.
Mate, when you're flailing around on (on a cycling website) going "waa waa my free speech" and "tell me the exact moment I was racist" then it's time to stop.
So false accusations of racism should go unchallenged?
I'd certainly support getting rid of those dangerous and pointless give-way chicane things. They do nothing other than put road users in harms way and increase noise and pollution.
Huh? Do you mean this kind of thing? I'm not really clear what they've got to do with this article?
Maybe satire? Dunno but for anyone looking at the above and shaking their fist Ranty Highwayman has a good one one a slightly more involved intervention that a politician took a tilt at.
https://therantyhighwayman.blogspot.com/2022/07/hare-brained.html
I think they're quite good. People slow down and take more care, unless they're a totally rubbish driver.
My thinking as a motorist is that they make you stop for no reason, fitting into the 'war on motorists' narrative. So your car gives off additional brake particulates to stop, and generates additional emissions and noise to wait and accelerate away again. Even the most modest car can be doing 30mph+ again in seconds so they make no difference to speeds. Even better, some drivers go faster in order to get round them before an oncoming car arrives!
As a cyclist, either you have to stop behind vehicles that are waiting (usually which have overtaken you moments before) and filter past into the path of oncoming traffic, or in the oncoming direction, run the gauntlet as drivers barge through. There are a couple of roads I regularly ride which are tortuous and additionally hazardous in this respect.
A friend was told by the Police he could not leave his car on the clear-sighted road outside his house half a mile from one set of these give way things, on the basis it was causing an obstruction. Go figure.
Oh - OK - with you now. I'd say they have their pros and cons, and much depends on design and context, but in any case I imagine these would be well down the list of targets in the "war on the motorist" narrative - it's really more anything that carries a hint of being linked to cycling or the 'green crap' that's being taken aim at.
Road.cc appear to be deliberately deleting any criticism of Jeremy Corbyn whilst allowing criticisms of Truss and Sunak.
Is the Community Editor available to explain this?
Seems like the whole 'Corbyn is/isn't an anti semite' discussion has been removed. Maybe one of the comments was a bit close to the bone so they removed the whole lot to be on the safe side?
There was a racist comment from gr0g which has gone along with my reply in another thread, so maybe they are having a general tidy up.
I did send a complaint about that as it was well beyond what any site would regard as reasonable.
Given the level of abuse against Conservative politicians that is allowed by the mods I doubt that very much.
Corbyn is apparently beyond reproach on this site.
Are you saying that Shapps concepts, as a Secretary of state, are above any form of criticism?
I'm going to hazard a guess that criticism of Shapps would pass the road.cc /Goskomizdat test.
Ok, I'll spin this one up: my politics are left of centre and I think Jeremy Corbyn is a fool who failed to deal with some very unsavoury behaviour as leader of Labour. Let's see if this comment stays.
They do normally jump on removing racist comments if Hirsute's interpretation is correct, (although not seen any thrown at Right Politicians on here to determine if they would remove them).
"No Jeremy Corbyn"?
I like a bit of political banter but this never has much to do with cycling and ranting seems inevitable. So I'd accept the plug getting pulled occasionally. (Managed to read some of linked articles this time). The lack of precision is maybe regrettable ( deer hunting with a bazooka.)
I'm only aware of this happening for racism/antisemitism. Not seen all these eg. I'm not sure of the reason why the trans sports threads got cropped. Possibly tedium - although "cars in houses" proves that the system can handle lengthy threads.
More like 'Oh (you'd better not criticise) Jeremy Corbyn!'
I'd say "leave him, he's already dead!" In this case I missed the proposed trigger. If you dug back into history you might be able to compare treatment of posts on Priti Patel / Sunak / Sajid Javid with Sadiq Khan for political balance? (I recall at least one poster was triggered by Khan).
Only just back from riding so I don't know what was said since 10am, when I left eburt had said something positive about Corbyn, you'd said he was an antisemite, I'd defended him...so my and eburt's positive comments have gone along with your criticism, why do you assume it's you being allegedly censored? Could just as well be us.
Because positive comments about Corbyn remain elsewhere in the thread.
Ergo, the road.cc stasi have no issue with praise of Corbyn.
One comment from what i can see. The one from Burt which started several replies including the Semite/Anti-Semite sub-thread which seems to then spiralled into a supposed comment by Gr0g. I suspect they decided to remove all those comments to not spur similar responses further down rather then just remove the one that supposedly seriously crossed the line.
I'm sure your email to Simon might get a similar response back.
I think the grog comment was on another thread from what I understand.
Can't see any good reason for them to nix this thread other than it offended road.cc Corbynistas.
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