CoHSAT, the Oxfordshire Coalition for Healthy Streets and Active Travel has launched a Manifesto for candidates the coming County Council Elections with five principles for safe, fair and effective transport in the county.
“Our current transport system isn’t working,” said CoHSAT Co-Chair Robin Tucker, “we see crashes on the roads causing injuries and delays every day, air and noise pollution make people ill, and so many people choose to drive that roads have been clogged for over a decade. Our five principles form a joined-up plan to improve from this sorry state. First, we’ve got to stop making things worse – if the 100,000 homes being built keep adding car journeys, the jams will keep getting worse. Second, we’ve got to give people practical options and shift them away from using private cars when they don’t need to.”
Those options start with walking, wheeling and cycling – which are efficient and healthy choices for short trips. Almost everyone can walk or wheel, what is important is having shops and services nearby. More people can cycle (92% of adults) than can drive (75%), but lack of safe routes currently puts many off, so this needs to be remedied.
Public transport, particularly buses and trains, are the solution for longer distances. Buses need to be given priority on the roads so that services are reliable, and this will require some restrictions to private car use where traffic is causing problems. “It is a sad reality that the amount of car traffic is the major block on people getting around. Only candidates and parties that understand and set out to tackle this reality have a chance of solving our transport problems.” said Robin Tucker.
CoHSAT’s five principles in its Manifesto are:
- People-first Places
- Invest in Active Travel
- Public Transport that works for everyone
- Reduce the problems caused by traffic
- Make roads safe for all
“We’ve set out our principles and we are asking each political party whether they agree, or how they would solve the problem.” said Robin Tucker. “We know the traffic problem dates back before 2015 (long before the recent two Oxford LTNs), because that is when the Council’s current plan for Traffic Filters to tackle the traffic problem was launched. We know that not acting will only mean the traffic keeps building and things get worse. Voters should know which parties are prepared to act, and which will just watch the traffic problem grow.”
