Cleaning up London’s toxic air

Yes! Please! Hurry! We really need to take more drastic action against pollution in London. Pollution is causing so many health problems and will only begin to improve with strong measures.

Mr Vaughn- you really are a insulting prat. I will not be bothering to answer your posts in future. I suggest you check the road safety laws including cycle regulations. i do not intend to take up my valuable time looking up laws i am fully conversant with.
Terry M

Mr Vaughan -I just cannot understand the know-alls who seem to think they know better than those involved in picking up the dead and injured at accident scenes. As previously stated i must have dealt with at least 1000 accidents involving cyclists in my service in the police. The vast majority of accidents involving a cyclist and motorists and HGV's/buses are caused by undertaking by the cyclists, especially at junctions where the HGV etc. is indicating turning left and the cyclist has ignored the indicator or not seen it (modern cars and lorries now have flashing indicators on their door rear mirrors). Cyclists jumping Amber and Red lights are also the main cause of cyclist being involved in a accidents. We have all witnessed the cyclist who comes up the nearside and then stops just in front of you at a junction. A lot of accidents involving cyclists at road junctions is the inability of the cyclist to judge speed of oncoming vehicles and they take a chance crossing a junction. I have no time for motorists who drive too close to a cyclist. I also have no time for the idiots who ride in two's and even threes across the road and refuse to go in single line when traffic is held up behind them. .These sort of oafs cause accidents. Some arrogant cyclists seem o think only they have any rights on the road and become abusive and even violent if they do not get their own way. In the last week i have witnessed two cases where arrogant adult cyclists have smashed into pedestrians on a footway (you will notice it was a footway not a cycle way) It is illegal to ride a cycle with a wheel diameter over 18" and those doing it should be prosecuted. unfortunately there never seems to be a police officer around to witness these offences now. Maybe i should video what I see and send it to my local police. I would attend court with no hesitation, While I agree there are some cyclist who are responsible, others should be banned from our roads. I have cctv cameras front and back of my car.. You would not believe the amount of cyclists and motorist who drop back when they see them. Finally Mr. Vaughan I was a professional police accident reporting officer for over 23 years and i would put by knowledge of cyclist accidents as far superior to yours. Terry M

7.40pm. Covent Garden. The road I have to cross (The Strand) is closed off on Sunday. That means there'll be no bus to get to Willesden Green or Camberwell Green. I only know this because I managed to get to Robert Dyas for a brush (they did not have one) this afternoon. Well, I'll be stuck here. Don't worry, I have my medications! As a Yorkshire woman by birth, it was good to stagger to Trafalgar Square for le Tour. Please, please. please think about the people who live here. We are not all rich.

Yes, it's obvious from an environmental / climate aspect.
From social aspect as well. Far too many have have little idea who their neighbours are, travel cocooned in a car and bury their nose in a smartphone the rest of the time.
If people are forced out of their cars once a week they might start to see why some of us despair of the car addiction that is a not insignificant part of climate and pollution crisis.

Did anyone else hear radio 4's Costing the earth" programme on the fact major cities such as Paris and Turin have electric cars for hire on short journeys instead of bikes? This solves all the concerns I have about meeting the needs of the disabled drivers, parents with children, commuters who in Paris are afraid of terrorism on the Metro. It is not so much private cars but diesel-belching buses, cabs and endless delivery vans which cause appalling pollution throughout Greater London. I would advocate electric cars for the elderly and disabled making local journeys and bikes for all the able-bodied.

The pedestrianisation of Oxford Street is the perfect metaphor for all the wrong-headed, woolly, muddled, piece-meal thinking that pervades transport policy making in the capital.

The idea of pedestrianisation is to REDUCE CONGESTION and POLLUTION.
It would do neither. It would simply divert traffic into surrounding areas and neighbourhoods.

I would like to propose a radical solution to London's congestion and pollution.

1. To prevent congestion, sweep away all the current restrictions on traffic movement in London. That's right - all the one way streets, road barriers, road narrowing's, no entry signs, all the impenetrable council estates with no through roads etc. Over the years these restrictions have been created in a completely haphazard ad hoc way and are no longer fit for purpose. All they do is displace traffic issues to neighbouring locations in the worst sort of nimbyist excess. Any traffic schemes or restrictions should require a democratic mandate and a higher council tax charge for beneficiaries.

2. Introduce a variable congestion charge on peak time travel. Easily done and requires no new technology. TFL monitors millions of vehicle journeys every day and can easily predict peak road use in real time. Variable charges could be flagged on websites, apps or roadside displays. Also dramatically reduce congestion charge exemptions - if you want to drive a cab around London all day - you have to pay more. Also use the congestion charge to discriminate between high and low polluting vehicles so vehicles over 10 years old pay (much) more than vehicles under 5 years old.

3. Pollution - announce an end date for the sale of internal combustion engine vehicles in the UK say 10 - 12 years from now. Not as wacky as it sounds - the Dutch parliament has already considered such a proposal as has Norway. In the meantime remove VAT from electric vehicles and double the VAT rate on diesel vehicles with an intermediate rate for petrol. Use the higher taxes to fund the build out of an on - street electric vehicle charging network.

All of these ideas are relatively low cost and easy to implement and would have a dramatic impact on pollution and congestion.

Lastly we need a proper tube network to serve the entire capital. Currently over 90% of the tube network is North of the river and that's not good enough. The rest of London needs at least four new or extended tube lines and there is currently a proposal for just one - the Bakerloo line which we are promised some time in the next 20 years.(although note the US embassy gets an extension at first asking).

City Hall needs a rocket under it. The painful anti-car narrative that pervades all its thinking simply does not work and we desperately need some fresh and innovative solutions.

Has anyone thought of he gridlock road closures cause to the surrounding roads, London is an ancient city with narrow roads, as soon as one road blocks or is closed the whole area quickly becomes congested.

As a regular viewer and occasional contributor to this discussion, and as someone who drives a Diesel engined van in London on a daily basis (Mon-Fri) breathing in the toxic filth which I help create, listening hourly to warnings on the radio (LBC) that 1000's like me die prematurely every year from heart and lung conditions caused by pollution, and as someone who has his 20 year old son working with him every day and risking the same consequences, I'd like to make a few points.

I'm really sick of hearing this debated and am stressed by the potential harm we are all apparently at risk from.
I am apalled that the Mayors office and/or TFL continues to grant licences to new minicab drivers whose exploding numbers are adding to the congestion and pollution.

If it's as serious as we are constantly told will someone somewhere PLEASE TAKE SOME IMMEDIATE AND ACHIEVABLE ACTION?

My suggestion would be to introduce an immediate ban on any new minicab licences being granted to anyone who does not intend to use a hybrid electric car for this service. I would say all-electric but I do not believe a viable option currently exists.

I would ensure all minicabs are henceforth required to pay the Congestion Charge from which they are, unlike me and all other commercial vehicles, currently exempt. I believe this would reduce the number of minicabs clogging our roads as it would make the jobs financially unviable.

I would urge the Mayors office to seek out manufacturers offering non-diesel powered commercial vehicles for sale, to promote these, and even ban the use of diesels in London where AFFORDABLE petrol and hybrid alternatives are readily available. I would hope London's market for such vehicles is sufficiently large to persuade manufacturers to produce and offer such alternatives. Electric vehicles are currently unaffordable and do not have the practical range required by small independent operators like myself and I do not relish the prospect of any measures being introduced that would drive out small and independent transport operators like myself to be replaced exclusively by large corporate organisations.

I would welcome your comments as feedback is essential, and I urge all contributors to read through all previous posts before placing their own, and comment, support or oppose them, rather than repeating them and adding to the ever lengthening thread.

I would also like to see more response to the points raised here by the Mayors Office as it does feel like we are not being seen and responded to which is deeply frustrating and defeats the point of our speaking out.

Best Regards to you all - John H