Coventry City Council is launching our draft Climate Change Strategy for Coventry, one that sets out the foundations for creating a sustainable zero carbon city. This is part of AP’s effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. example, San Francisco in April voted to make a road through its famed Golden Gate Park permanently “ car-free. Major cities worldwide have also experimented with closing streets to car traffic as a way of encouraging residents to walk or bike. The practice is commonly referred to as congestion pricing and has been used in cities including London, Singapore and Stockholm, according to the AP. In New York City, officials are examining the possibility of charging motorists an extra fee for entering its most congested areas. They “might just need to use a different route or drive through the ring road to avoid the traffic filters,” Smith wrote. Disabled drivers and first responders will likewise not be affected.ĭrivers who lack a permit will also still be able to access all of the city without being fined. Many vehicles, like vans and motorcycles, are exempt from the new rules. “Everyone can go through all the filters at any time by bus, bike, taxi, scooter or walking,” the statement added. The city and county emphasized in a joint statement that the traffic restrictions will not “be used to confine people” to a given area. But some on social media have incorrectly linked the two, suggesting the traffic rules will also bar residents from leaving their neighborhoods. Officials with the city of Oxford have separately proposed pursuing these goals. The “15 minute city club” referenced by one of the misleading tweets is an unrelated urban planning framework under which city residents would ideally be able to reach essential services within a 15-minute walk or bike ride from their home. Motorists who live in Oxford will be able to apply for 100 daylong permits to drive through the filters per year. to 7 p.m., drivers in private cars will be automatically fined if they cross through the filters without a permit. The “traffic filters” are license plate recognition cameras, not physical barriers. “Nobody will need permission from the county council to drive or leave their home.” “Everywhere in the city will still be accessible by car,” Paul Smith, spokesperson for the Oxfordshire County Council, wrote in an email. “Next up: Climate lockdown trials,” wrote another Twitter user, sharing a screenshot of the article.īut Oxfordshire’s “traffic filters” will not block access to any part of the city of Oxford or the rest of the county, let alone lock people in their neighborhoods, the county government told The Associated Press. The plan “would control movements in a gated city, allowing only 100 car journeys in & out per car & monitoring all movements,” the tweet continued. Oxfordshire Council, part of the 15 minute city club, has passed a plan to trial a Climate lockdown,” tweeted one user, alongside a screenshot of an article warning that “residents will be confined to their local neighbourhood.” Some on social media have since likened the scheme to stringent government COVID-19 containment policies. THE FACTS: Last week, local leaders in Oxfordshire voted to try a new traffic reduction system in an effort to reduce congestion in the county’s namesake city. All parts of the county will remain accessible by car, officials said. But car owners can apply for daylong permits to bypass the new rules, and many other vehicles are exempt. Oxfordshire has approved a plan to put “traffic filters” on some main roads, restricting drivers’ access during daytime hours and freeing up space for buses, cyclists and pedestrians. CLAIM: The county of Oxfordshire, England, which includes the city of Oxford, is imposing a “climate lockdown” that will confine residents to their neighborhoods.ĪP’S ASSESSMENT: False.
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