Laughable Tory “Plan for Drivers”

The Tories have published a laughable “Plan for Drivers” as a government policy paper.

Foreword

The Foreword is full of gaslighting and Doublespeak such as ‘the easy political choice is to vilify the private car…’ No, the easy political choice is to do nothing to change the motor vehicle-dominated status quo.

In relation to 15 minute cities, it specifically mentions Oxford, and claims the council is using the concept “to police people’s lives”.

This is deranged. Promoting false conspiracy theories must be a misuse of the apparatus of government.

The Foreword claims that electric cars will decarbonise transport, which is untrue. We know electric cars alone are not enough, and we need to reduce vehicle miles travelled.

The propaganda and political point-scoring in the Foreword includes a disobliging reference to Wales’s 20mph plan – another misuse of a government paper to party political ends.

Responding to Drivers’ Priorities

The document claims that it will “fix the issues people experience when driving”. It can’t though. When too many people try to make car trips at the same time, the result is congestion. Making the alternatives less safe adds to the problem.

Smoother Journeys

The Tories’ action plan includes tinkering with the hours of operation of bus lanes, and possibly letting motorbikes use them.

There is also something about “permitting red flashing lights for breakdown vehicles”. That sounds like an admin issue not a matter of strategy, nor a culture war to be fought.

Maybe the brainstorming session didn’t produce all that much.

Stopping “Unfair” Enforcement

I’m reluctant even to engage with this crap. Either a driver has committed an offence or they haven’t. If they have, there should be enforcement. There is far too little as it is.

Under this heading the paper says the Tories are going to issue new guidance on Low-Traffic Neighbourhoods. That’s a depressing thought.

Easier Parking

Apparently the easier parking action includes “consult on revising guidance about the public’s right to challenge local authority parking policies”.

I suspect Sunak and Harper have radically misjudged the mood here. Even people who use a car as their main form of transport get fed up with other people’s inconsiderate parking.

I hope the consultation gets the unvoiced lingo-labial trill it deserves.

While on the subject of parking, we still haven’t had the results of the pavement parking consultation held in August 2020.

Other Nonsense

This Tory policy paper includes “communications campaign and enforcement to tackle lane hogs…on the motorway”.

You start to wonder if the policy paper has been written by 12-year-olds, but that does a disservice to 12-year-olds. It seems to be aimed at the authors of the most selfish and intolerant comments below the line of tabloid newspaper articles.

Network Management Duty to Support Active Travel

More serious than the bilge in the policy paper, the Tories have withdrawn the amended Network Management Duty to support active travel.

It required local authorities to reallocate space to cycling and walking; it was excellent. (North Yorkshire ignored it, so it won’t make much difference here).

Letter from Active Travel Commissioners

The Active Travel Commissioners for the West Midlands, South Yorkshire, Greater Manchester and the Liverpool City Region wrote a letter to Sunak yesterday.

They said that Gear Change (a Conservative government policy) had been welcomed and ‘united transport experts’. It showed the kind of long-term policy thinking that we need.

The Commissioners wrote:

‘The freedom of choice for mobility in our areas is best provided through high-quality active travel and reliable public transport networks.

This is especially important for children and young people. 20mph limits, for example, help support safe walking and cycling to school. Most children do not live right next to their school and so it is important not to vilify the concept of wider 20mph areas. They – and the wider community – need to be safe at the beginning, during, and at the end of their journeys.’

active travel commissioners in letter to sunak

The Commissioners also asked for the government to publish its plans for dealing with pavement parking, following the consultation on the issue in August 2020.