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Create more space for safe walking, jogging, and cycling

16th April 2020

Following action in cities around the world and a major effort by campaigners around London, we are urging Londoners to contact their local council, Mayor or councillor, via social media or email, to ask them to introduce urgent measures to create more space for safe walking, jogging, and cycling to help with social distancing.

We would like London boroughs to introduce measures urgently to make exercise, walking and cycling safer, and social distancing easier, during lockdown. These measures could include:

Widening pavements in particular where people are queueing for shops
‘Filtering’ residential streets using low-cost planters
Temporary cycle lanes

This is vital for pedestrians, joggers and cyclists to aid social distancing and create safe places for exercise, walking and cycling.

Many people walking and jogging for exercise have found they have to walk into roads to observe social distancing
Many more people are cycling, including NHS workers, to avoid risk of infection on public transport
There are major concerns that cars are speeding more now there’s less traffic on road

As reported here, one East London council is taking measures to block cars to protect cyclists and pedestrians from speeding drivers during the pandemic. The council will use low-cost planters and bollards on selected streets to allow walking and cycling through trips, and access to key workers and emergency vehicles, but preventing people driving through – a process known as filtering.

Suggested measures which councils can take have been set out here.

For more on what is happening around the world and what councils could considering doing – please see the links below.

https://twitter.com/theurbangeog/status/1249692793821433856
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/11/world-cities-turn-their-streets-over-to-walkers-and-cyclists
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/13/pop-up-bike-lanes-help-with-coronavirus-social-distancing-in-germany
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/apr/14/london-pedestrians-and-cyclist-may-get-more-space-on-roads-during-coronavirus-lockdown
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/120970386/how-coronavirus-will-change-the-face-of-the-cbd
https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/18375729.coronavirus-brighton-roads-switch-cycle-lanes/
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/car-free-zones-could-created-21862690
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/11/us/coronavirus-street-closures.html
https://road.cc/content/news/emergency-measures-stop-rat-running-drivers-announced-272655
http://www.leparisien.fr/seine-saint-denis-93/la-seine-saint-denis-dit-oui-aux-pistes-cyclables-temporaires-14-04-2020-8299671.php
https://www.forbes.com/sites/carltonreid/2020/04/13/new-zealand-first-country-to-fund-pop-up-bike-lanes-widened-sidewalks-during-lockdown/#50edb94c546e
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/coronavirus-cars-to-be-banned-from-roads-so-joggers-can-exercise-safely-during-lockdown-l2dp03v8m
https://www.centreforlondon.org/blog/close-parks/
https://qimby.net/user/peter.feldkamp@gmx.net?fbclid=IwAR1sqpD_sOIOtyU0Sce5tFaKbrqGtb6zgw1SZDq-Pg-A2MjN0ra5ojEgTDc

Create more space for safe walking, jogging, and cycling

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