Let's make our cities car free

It's easy to overlook the fact around five people every day are killed on British roads. One of the victims this week was a 12-year-old boy was was killed by the driver of a van who is currently being held by police on suspicion of being unfit to drive.

We tolerate a level of killing on our roads that would be considered entirely unacceptable were it happening anywhere else. For example, more people die on UK roads in 3 months than British soldiers were killed over 20 years of armed conflict in Afghanistan.

https://vimeo.com/376388701

If the killing of a child by a driver was considered out of the ordinary, road harm might move up the news and political agenda . As it is, newspapers don't want to rock the boat for fear of losing advertising revenue from car makers and politicians consider the driver lobby too powerful to confront.

Perhaps we all need to lose a child to road danger before the problem is addressed with the urgency it merits.

Could our cities could become car free within a generation?

There are many reasons why it makes sense to ban private cars from towns and cities, but the most important is surely the safety of our children.

"We need to look at why we've created a society where it's not seen as safe for children to play in their own streets because of motor vehicles, it's not seen as safe to ride a bike - normal, enjoyable activity - because of the risk of motor vehicles injuring people, so we need to change that lens and look at the source of road danger rather than say 'what did the victim do wrong". Rachel Aldred, Professor of Transport at the University of Westminster, and Director of the Active Travel Academy

https://vimeo.com/376388168

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