In this week's war on the motorist, rat run drivers are complaining that they're going to be re-routed from a B-road with three schools and a local centre on it to an adjacent purpose-built A-road. The rat run past the schools has also generated 24 collisions in the past three years alone.

Birmingham City Council to protect kids from batshit drivers during the school run.

Birmingham council to ban cars outside more schools

Parents will have to follow new rules when picking up and dropping off kids

birminghammail.co.uk

Good observations from @adamtranter.bsky.social re: devolution in this podcast. Regional authorities have had to create spending prioritisation criteria for the hundreds of millions/billions to spend on transport. One formula tweak by an economist can quickly starve active travel projects of cash.

Streets Ahead Podcast@podstreetsahead.bsky.social · yesterday

🚨New Streets Ahead Episode! Adam, Laura and Ned are all back together IRL. OMG! What does devolution mean for active travel? What's this about a campaigner toolkit? And is there anywhere Ned hasn't been lately? For all this and more, look no further shows.acast.com/streets-ahea...

Of nearly 19,000 driving violations captured over two weeks, precisely zero drivers were prosecuted. This is because there isn't enough back-office capacity at West Midlands Police, and the process to issue fines hasn't kept pace with camera tech. www.bbc.com/news/article...

AI cameras spot nearly 19,000 road offences in West Midlands

Captured images include a front-seat passenger holding a small child on her lap without a seatbelt.

bbc.com

19,000 offences that won't be actioned, joining the growing number of warning letters and no further actions from the region's rapidly deteriorating Operation Snap. Glad that @betterstreetsforbirmingham.org forced this out of WMCA through FOI.

“Belt up and switch off” Mayor issues urgent warning as AI camera spots nearly 19,000 driving violations in just two weeks

Child on lap in front seat, and driver with two hands on phone rather than wheel, among motoring violations caught by AI camera technology

wmca.org.uk

If Midlands Rail Hub and WMCA don't come out to say "yep, we hear you loud and clear and are refining designs based on this", this blunt-tooled opposition campaign is going to fill the typical information vacuum between consultations. A quick press release would save the world of pain here.

Protest party takes over street with DJs as businesses fight demolition plans

XOYO Birmingham, Luna Springs, Club Colette, Mama Roux’s and The Night Owl face demolition under Network Rail's Midlands Rail Hub proposals

birminghammail.co.uk

Time for the US to get a new president?

'Time for Ukraine to get new president,' says Trump after Zelensky condemns diesel deal

Ukraine's leader had said the deal with Russia to release diesel into the US would help Moscow fund the war.

bbc.co.uk

We're not getting very far with the Road Safety Emergency if the cops are collectively parking on the zig zags.

Do you think that the Prime Minister is aware that Facebook, Twitter and generative AI are being weaponised to radicalise the nation into ethnonationalists who wouldn’t pass a ‘life in the UK’ citizenship test? 🤔

My kingdom for something like this in Birmingham!

Will Norman@willnorman.co.uk · 5d ago

The South Leytonstone Low Traffic Neighbourhood in Waltham Forest looks excellent. Early benefits show: 🚗🚗76% reduction in traffic 🚲🚲172% increase in cycling 🚸🚸safer speeds And I love the sustainable drainage & planting 💚☘️🌱🌳🌹🌻🌷

Strange things are happening in Birmingham. A Reform ward councillor is enthusiastically backing the @a38cycleway.bsky.social extension and has doubled down on it despite a brutal comments section. And his Reform colleague, the shadow transport cabinet member, is at worst ambivalent in his support.

Free Selly Oak from its rat run status! (Yes those cars are stopped in the box junction)

Started to update my name with services and it is very painful as a service designer. Best experiences so far have been Octopus, EE, my dentist, and, surprisingly, my GP surgery.

People support clean energy but think others don't. People support clean air but think others don't. People support low traffic neighbourhoods but think others don't. And they think others don't because vested interests and right-wing media work hard to create that impression.

Mums for Lungs@mumsforlungs.bsky.social · 2w ago

Interesting insights here from @cyclinguk.bsky.social. Good to see that one of their YouGov polls this year revealed that 70% of people support #SchoolStreets - but think that only 49% of others do. Also interesting to see common misperceptions around the popularity of cycle routes and speed limits.

The driver happened to collide with a pedestrian in a pedestrian zone, no less.

Car hits woman before ploughing into central Birmingham building

Police are appealing for anyone who witnessed the incident to get in touch.

bbc.co.uk

Smart choice to present options here, enabling a discussion about the trade-offs of option A (it won't really fix the problem) and B (you now have a bit more of a drive to leave your street but the racers will be gone).

A central gov department is currently advertising for a Head of Product *and* UCD. It's an indictment of the department's organisational maturity that they expect someone to be successfully across both professions.

Cheeky Elton John doing another performance for Apple Music three years after his “last ever performance” at Glastonbury. 👀

One of the last projects I set in motion before I left @wearepossible.bsky.social has finally borne fruit: the School Run Cruncher! TL;DR? YES, it does indeed look like school run traffic to private schools is disproportionately responsible for morning rush hour congestion. You’re welcome!

Private schools, public pollution: the need to better understand school run congestion — Possible

The school run is one of the most visible sources of traffic in our towns and cities, with 25% of weekday morning car trips in London being trips to school. For many of us , it’s clear that roads that...

wearepossible.org

Two years ago today, we turned Upper Highgate Street into a Play Street and remembered four year old Mayar Yahia, tragically killed by a driver. Two years on, the street is still no safer. We hope the council delivers the changes proposed in tribute to Mayar. #WorldCarFreeDay #VisionZero

…which might then lead curious minds to ask whether local media reporting of transport/active travel schemes is biased towards this too.

Martin Price-Phillips@mpricephillips.bsky.social · 3w ago

Great report and polling from @cyclinguk.bsky.social re: pluralistic ignorance - where someone supports a policy while believing their neighbours wouldn’t agree. Half support new cycle routes but believe only a third agree. Likewise for reducing speed limits. School streets greater (70% v 49%).

Great report and polling from @cyclinguk.bsky.social re: pluralistic ignorance - where someone supports a policy while believing their neighbours wouldn’t agree. Half support new cycle routes but believe only a third agree. Likewise for reducing speed limits. School streets greater (70% v 49%).

Sell the flood water as Cell Block Tango. www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midland...

Birmingham Crown Court thrown into chaos over flooded cell block

Two men involved in a 'shootout' outside a nightclub in Aston were among those who were unable to be sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court today

birminghammail.co.uk

Open letter with Dom Whiting requesting a faster rollout of a safe cycle network in Birmingham - Better Streets for Birmingham

Open letter with Dom Whiting requesting a faster rollout of a safe cycle network in Birmingham

We have written to Birmingham Council and Mayor Parker to underline how the success of the Drum'n'Bass ride on Sunday shows the demand for a safe cycle network is there.

betterstreetsforbirmingham.org

Did an expensive thing. Good job I love him!

This Welsh KSI stats release being absolutely misrepresented by press, AI slop pages and politicians is both a nightmare and typical.

Hear hear. RIP Joe Holyoak.

Joe Holyoak (1944-2026) - The Victorian Society

Joe Holyoak (1944–2026) was one of Birmingham’s most knowledgeable and influential architectural conservationists, whose association with the Victorian Society spanned more than half a century. An arc...

victoriansociety.org.uk

It’s been a lovely start to our honeymoon as we’ve been caught in the Mt Etna disruption. We were originally due to fly from Gatwick to Catania. Our flight got cancelled shortly before boarding. We managed to fly to Naples and take the delayed night train. But slept through the train ferry! 😭

My first AnyTrain ticket. Saving my company £3.30 today vs the standard return fare to Coventry. It’s an important ticket, recently introduced as another step towards contactless capping on rail. The trickiest part of the puzzle. I look forward to a future where you don’t need to know about it.

Judging by the volume and skill of drivers out this morning, I fear the kids are back to school.