Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

It's Simon, yeah? @coldwarcliff.bsky.social · 1d

Another thing on modern cars that is less intuitive, less safe - flush electric (ie non mechanical) door handles.
Also see touchscreen controls.

Unsurprisingly, mostly led by Tesla

www.wired.com/story/new-ru...

New Rules Could Force Tesla to Redesign Its Door Handles. That’s Harder Than It Sounds

Proposed regulations in China would mean the end of flush handles on car doors, with precious little time to roll out the changes.

www.wired.com

1

It's Simon, yeah? @coldwarcliff.bsky.social · 1d

Sundays beers. Peanut butter and jelly brown ale ✅

It's Simon, yeah? @coldwarcliff.bsky.social · 2d

France also has a ULEZ style that covers a whole load of cities, including Paris.

It's very lax though - while London ULEZ requires Euro 6 Diesels (post 2016), the French CritAir 2 classification includes both E6 and E5 (post 2009) - so impact is likely more limited.

1

It's Simon, yeah? @coldwarcliff.bsky.social · 2d

Permeability maximised by permitting 2 way cycling on every one way street (regardless of width) with loads of paint markings to alert drivers and show route to cycle. And Zebra at every side road for pedestrian and cycles (though motor complaince seemed poor)

1 1

It's Simon, yeah? @coldwarcliff.bsky.social · 2d

Central Paris really does have an impressive amount of Cycleway now. Lots of it is bidirectional (but a lot of with flow as well). Separation by kerb and bollard. Bus stop by-passes as standard with a simple Zebra for access.

1 1

It's Simon, yeah? @coldwarcliff.bsky.social · 2d

A citywide 30kph limit (20mph) - which improve safety, emissions, noise and improves fuel efficiency

1 1

It's Simon, yeah? @coldwarcliff.bsky.social · 2d

Paris is implementing a central “low traffic Neighbourhood”

1 1

It's Simon, yeah? @coldwarcliff.bsky.social · 2d

The summer 24 issue of the @londoncycling.bsky.social magazine had a piece with detail of some of the cycling infrastructure

issuu.com/londoncyclin...

London Cyclist Summer 2024

issuu.com

1

It's Simon, yeah? @coldwarcliff.bsky.social · 2d

New study on the Paris cycling revolution

momentummag.com/new-study-pa...

New Study Shows How Paris Pedaled Its Way to a Cycling Revolution

Cycling through central Paris meant weaving between buses and scooters—a bold choice reserved for the fearless few.

momentummag.com

2 2 5

Reposted by It's Simon, yeah?

Alan White @aljwhite.bsky.social · 2d

I ❤️ Viz

A letter to viz on why we should be removing British objects from people’s rectums, not foreign ones

14 510 1.7K

It's Simon, yeah? @coldwarcliff.bsky.social · 2d

This one must have a tractor beam - its on the pavement on the wrong side of the road

(More evidence - clearly locked onto this vehicle on streetview as well)

@worldbollardassoc.bsky.social

4

It's Simon, yeah? @coldwarcliff.bsky.social · 2d

And the advantage of shared e bikes is that, unlike private cars which spend 95% of time parked, shared bikes are used by multiple users every day.

bsky.app/profile/cold...

It's Simon, yeah? @coldwarcliff.bsky.social · May 24

The @economist on the Lime revolution

2

It's Simon, yeah? @coldwarcliff.bsky.social · 2d

Blog by author expands the points:
“The big advantage of bikes is that, unlike buses or trains, they go directly from where you start to where you finish, at the exact moment you need to go. The advantage over cars is that they need perhaps 1/10th of the amount of road and parking space.”

Why e-bikes are more important the EVs

Bikes can actually transform cities in the way driverless cars promise

danielknowles.substack.com

1 1 2

It's Simon, yeah? @coldwarcliff.bsky.social · 2d

“Forget EVs. Cycling is revolutionising transport… in cities that have made them mainstream, the idea of going back to car-clogged streets is considered ridiculous.”

@economist.com on the rebirth of cycling: e-bikes and safe infrastructure.

1 2 4

It's Simon, yeah? @coldwarcliff.bsky.social · 6d

Er.. 10.10kg?

Reposted by It's Simon, yeah?

Rhianna Pratchett @rhi.bsky.social · 7d

Dad’s books are full of empathy, common sense, and a healthy suspicion of the powerful. But at its heart his work is also about how systems keep people poor while pretending it’s their own fault. So I hope Kemi’s taking notes as well as reading the jokes.

Paul Haine @paulhaine.bsky.social · 7d

Kemi Badenoch claiming Terry Pratchett as her favourite author is wild

140 2K 7.7K

It's Simon, yeah? @coldwarcliff.bsky.social · 7d

Some years back I went (on a dry day) to look at a school that was being lauded at having really impressively high cycle/wheel to school figures post STARS. The self-reported data was clearly nonsense based on the number of vehicles dropping off children and number of bikes/scooters in the store.

1

Reposted by It's Simon, yeah?

City Infinity @cityinfinity.bsky.social · 7d

We're pleased to report on a project that Mark has been working on with Robert Weetman for Manchester City Council.

This post sets out some ideas that developed from this work and which will hopefully start to explain what "pedestrian-friendly" is, and how we can design better side road junctions.

What makes side road junctions pedestrian-friendly?

ForewordThis post has a companion written by Robert Weetman. We have been working collaboratively on something which we think needs to be more widely known, but we also thought it might be fun and …

cityinfinity.co.uk

2 14 34

Reposted by It's Simon, yeah?

Zoë Crowther @zoecrowther.bsky.social · 8d

Say hello to literally the only protesters outside Tory conference this year

Two protesters holding up a sign saying “pedestrianise the M6”

26 110 630

Reposted by It's Simon, yeah?

Red Hot World @redhotworld.bsky.social · 9d

Experts feared it would take 193 years to reduce London's deadly levels of NO₂ air pollution to legal levels.

This week Mayor Sadiq Khan announced his team had defied the howls of pro-fossil fuel and motoring lobbyists to achieve the life-saving target in just 9 YEARS.

Here's how they did it 🧵

Deadly NO2 air pollution levels in London in 2016 before the introduction of the Ultra Low Emissions Zone

1 25 37

Reposted by It's Simon, yeah?

Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 9d

An astronaut, looking at the Earth: “Wait, it’s all social care obligations?”
Behind them, another astronaut, drawing a gun to shoot them in the back: “Always has been.”

10 140 680

It's Simon, yeah? @coldwarcliff.bsky.social · 9d

It’s a problem all over central Brixton.

1

It's Simon, yeah? @coldwarcliff.bsky.social · 9d

Avignon has an interesting bike share. All electric, super cheap (annual pass 30/15€ then free up to 30min) and space efficient minimal docks that keep bikes upright but all smarts are in the bike)

Nephew says the issue is you have to take outer bike, even if damaged or low battery.

2

It's Simon, yeah? @coldwarcliff.bsky.social · 9d

It should be self financing, but there is clearly either threats to officers or corruption going on as some are the same cars parked illegally all day every day. When they’re visible on multiple streetview passes you know there’s an issue.

1 1

It's Simon, yeah? @coldwarcliff.bsky.social · 9d

Atlantic Road south of Coldharbour Lane works in terms of traffic volume - cyclists are the significant mode here. But space hugely diminished by a complete failure of parking enforcement on a bus route.
None of these cars are legally parked.

1 3