There are two important strategic consultations going on at the moment: Birmingham City Council's (BCC) Road Safety Strategy consultation as part of the Birmingham Connected project; and the new West Midlands Integrated Transport Authority's (WM ITA) consultation on their Strategic Transport Plan - 'Movement for Growth'. These consultations are both finishing in October, with the BCC Road Safety consultation finishing on the 23rd October and the WM ITA consultation finishing on the 16th October. Push Bikes will publish our take on these two consultations over the next couple of weeks, but before then, here are some highlights.
BCC's Road Safety Strategy document is important because it could mark a move towards the 'Safe System' approach, defined by RoSPA thus: "The safe system approach considers that often mistakes do happen, and given this, roads and cars should be designed so that mistakes do not frequently result in death. It does this by placing human vulnerability to injury at the centre of road design, and proposes that roads, vehicles, and traffic speeds should be modified to prevent exchanges of energy which are likely to cause fatal injuries." This could mark a shift in emphasis away from educating the most vulnerable road users on how not to get killed, to transport infrastructure that has had conflicts designed out and that encourages safe behaviour through good design. Push Bikes will be looking at how well the Road Safety Strategy sticks to the 'Safe System' approach, although the fact that we had to go to a different document for a clear definition might be telling.
The WM ITA's Strategic Transport Plan builds on the work done in BCC's Birmingham Connected, to propose a transport plan that considers the wellbeing of the local population and the local environment as well as the economic benefits of a better transport system. The plan includes a regional cycle network, which is said will consist of "high quality core cycle routes", which will be supplemented by canal towpaths and greenway routes, and also says that "appropriate cycle provision is integral to [the road] network." Push Bikes will be arguing for better public transport-bike integration, and sufficient funding for cycle infrastructure to be paid for out of the £330 million per year that the WM ITA says is needed for this transport plan to be delivered.
