The Impact of Introducing a Low Traffic Neighbourhood on Street Crime, in Waltham Forest, London

Using police data, 2012-2019, we examine the impact on street crime of introducing low traffic neighbourhoods in Waltham Forest, London. Overall, the introduction of a low traffic neighbourhood was associated with a 10% decrease in total street crime (95% confidence interval 7% to 13%), and this effect increased with a longer duration since implementation (18% decrease after 3 years). An even larger reduction was observed for violence and sexual offences, the most serious subcategory of crime. The only subcategory of crime that increased significantly was bicycle theft, plausibly largely reflecting increased cycling levels. There was no indication of displacement of any crime subcategory into adjacent areas

Cycling Injury Risk in London: Impacts of Road Characteristics and Infrastructure

This study of cycling injury risk in London examines impacts of road characteristics and environment, including different types of cycling infrastructure. It controlled for exposure by using a case-crossover method alongside an algorithm developed by Transport for London to predict cyclist routes. When compared to no infrastructure, this study found that protected cycle infrastructure reduced odds of injury by 40-65% in the morning commute, whereas advisory lanes increased injury odds by 34%. Junctions were found to increase injury odds threefold; higher pedestrian density also increased injury odds. This study supports growing evidence of a ‘safety in numbers’ effect

Adults’ attitudes towards child cycling: a study of the impact of infrastructure

Research on cycle infrastructure preferences generally suggests a preference for off-road cycle infrastructure and segregation from motor traffic, among both existing cyclists and non-cyclists. However, studies have so far not explored how the presence of children might shape adults’ attitudes to cycle infrastructure. Similarly, studies on the determinants of child cycling have not as yet looked in depth at the impact of parental attitudes to specific infrastructure types. This paper reports on an online survey about how people’s preferences might vary, depending on whether they were making a cycle journey alone, travelling with a child, or considering whether to let an older child travel alone. Respondents were also asked whether they thought each of ten infrastructure scenarios were suitable for ‘most people’. The paper discusses findings from the online survey, identifying changes in preferences and investigating subgroup variation. The presence of children makes a major difference to people’s willingness to cycle in the more challenging situations. There is substantial consensus across subgroups over the extent to which the various examples are suitable for cycling with children

Flexible regulation: the birth of a qualitative audit society?

This article discusses the emergence of qualitative techniques of audit. In particular, it focuses on the auditing of the UK policy National Health Service Local Improvement Finance Trust (NHS LIFT), a policy that shifts provision of primary care premises to the corporate sector. In this case, far from qualitative audit representing a pluralist approach it actually signifies the regulatory capture of the National Audit Office (NAO) by powerful private and public sector interests. The article considers how this shift in regulatory techniques – including the adoption of qualitative techniques including snowball sampling, case studies and interviewing – is linked to a change in the auditor's role. Qualitative research can be appropriated and re-shaped by powerful groups

NHS Local Improvement Finance Trust and the new shape of neoliberal welfare

The NHS LIFT (local improvement finance trust) programme is a new form of privatisation of UK primary care, based on the private finance initiative but going beyond it in important ways. It covers half of all English primary care trusts, and the approach has also been extended into education (the ‘Building Schools for the Future’ programme). The LIFT model embeds multinational capital and corporate forms into UK primary care and affects both staff and services, but challenges to it have been patchy and low-key. There is a need to theorise what this new development means for public services, and to examine the potential for resistance to it

Managing risk and regulation within new local 'health economies': The case of NHS LIFT (Local Improvement Finance Trust)

This paper analyses NHS Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT), a relatively new policy that shifts UK primary care premises into corporate ownership. LIFT is a more radical version of the Private Finance Initiative (PFI), and may indicate the future direction of neoliberal welfare services. Like PFI, LIFT foregrounds issues of risk and regulation, enabling their reconceptualisation. This echoes certain themes present in the sociology of risk, including the idea that the welfare state has created and amplified, rather than managed, risk. Under LIFT, risks are constructed as (a) primarily economic and (b) primarily from the point of view of the large commercial organisations involved. Evidence presented here depicts banks as risk averse, challenging assumptions that private firms display risk-taking behaviour

On the outside : constructing cycling citizenship

This paper uses in-depth interview data from Cambridge, England, to discuss the concept of the “cycling citizen”, exploring how, within heavily-motorised countries, the practice of cycling might affect perceptions of the self in relation to natural and social environments. Participants portrayed cycling as a practice traversing independence and interdependence, its mix of benefits for the individual and the collective making it an appropriate response to contemporary social problems. In this paper I describe how this can be interpreted as based on a specific notion of cycling citizenship rooted in the embodied practice of cycling in Cambridge (a relatively-high cycling enclave within the low-cycling UK). This notion of cycling citizenship does not dictate political persuasion, but carries a distinctive perspective on the proper relation of the individual to their environment, privileging views “from outside” the motor-car

Association of Infrastructure and Route Environment Factors with Cycling Injury Risk at Intersection and Non-Intersection Locations: A Case-Crossover Study of Britain.

This paper examines infrastructural and route environment correlates of cycling injury risk in Britain for commuters riding in the morning peak. The study uses a case-crossover design which controls for exposure. Control sites from modelled cyclist routes (matched on intersection status) were compared with sites where cyclists were injured. Conditional logistic regression for matched case-control groups was used to compare characteristics of control and injury sites. High streets (defined by clustering of retail premises) raised injury odds by 32%. Main (Class A or primary) roads were riskier than other road types, with injury odds twice that for residential roads. Wider roads, and those with lower gradients increased injury odds. Guard railing raised injury odds by 18%, and petrol stations or car parks by 43%. Bus lanes raised injury odds by 84%. As in other studies, there was a 'safety in numbers' effect from more cyclists. Contrary to other analysis, including two recent studies in London, we did not find a protective effect from cycle infrastructure and the presence of painted cycle lanes raised injury odds by 54%. At intersections, both standard and mini roundabouts were associated with injury odds several times higher than other intersections. Presence of traffic signals, with or without an Advanced Stop Line ('bike box'), had no impact on injury odds. For a cyclist on a main road, intersections with minor roads were riskier than intersections with other main roads. Typical cycling environments in Britain put cyclists at risk, and infrastructure must be improved, particularly on busy main roads, high streets, and bus routes

The Impact of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and Other Active Travel Interventions on Vehicle Ownership: Findings from the Outer London Mini-Holland Programme

We use vehicle registration data to examine whether active travel interventions in Outer London between 2015-2019 affected motor vehicle ownership, compared to other neighbourhoods. We find statistically significant reductions in car/van ownership in areas introducing ‘low traffic neighbourhoods’ (-6%, or 23 cars/vans per 1000 adults, after two years). We also find statistically significant but smaller reductions in areas introducing other infrastructure such as cycle tracks (-2%, or 7 cars/vans per 1000 adults, after 2 years). These effects increased after adjusting for the changing age profile of the intervention areas. Our findings indicate that active travel interventions can reduce motor-vehicle ownership, particularly interventions involving low traffic neighbourhoods

Short-Term Association between the Introduction of 2020 Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and Street Crime, in London, UK

Between March and September 2020, 72 ‘Low Traffic Neighbourhoods’ (LTNs) were rapidly rolled out in London under emergency legislation. We examined the association between LTN implementation and street crime in October 2020 - February 2021 (‘post’), as compared to the same months in the previous two years (‘pre’). Overall crime trends in and around LTNs were more favourable than the background trend in Outer London, and similar to or slightly more favourable than the trend in Inner London. This pattern was also seen for numbers of direct attacks against the person - and this may underestimate the benefit per pedestrian, given evidence that LTN introduction is associated with increased walking