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New 'road users' group: another campaign for more roads
17 September 2002
Claims by a new road users organisation to “provide a voice for all road users” have been dismissed as absurd by leading transport and environment groups. The Road Users Alliance, which was launched today, will “highlight the importance of roads”.
The Road Users’ Alliance (RUA) claims it will “provide a voice for all road-users – from motorists to horse-riders, cyclists to road hauliers, utility companies to pedestrians”. However, it has been set up “to highlight the importance of roads and sustained investment, to resolve our transport problems.” Its first publication states that membership is “open to…organisations committed to building, equipping and maintaining roads”.
Friends of the Earth’s Transport Campaigner, Tony Bosworth, said:
“No-one will believe that this thinly-disguised campaign for more roads can really represent the interests of pedestrians, cyclists and horse-riders. The Road Users’ Alliance thinks building roads is the solution to Britain’s transport problems. It’s the same old message that we have heard for decades. That policy failed in the past; it will fail in the future as well”.
Kevin Mayne, Director of CTC, the national cyclists organisation, said:
"Given that the road lobby has fought tooth and nail to deflect responsibility for road safety and oppose measures to reduce car dependency, it seems highly improbable that it will suddenly be sufficiently concerned to speak for other road users now”.
Philip Connolly of pedestrians’ campaign group Living Streets said:
"The Road Users Alliance is likely to entrench an already unequal and unjust situation. It is not just road users who need to be involved in discussions about the amount of road space available or the environmental impact of transport but the residents of the communities that the traffic passes through or those people or organisations that would benefit from releasing road space for other activities whether for children's play, street markets or for new developments."
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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust
Last modified: Jun 2008
