The woman who stops traffic - episode three

I watched the last episode of this channel 4 mini series last night.

Kristen was trying to deal with the people of Durham, where they have a great park and ride, a great cycle network, local amenities and no-one used it. They were still addicted to the car.

Editorially it was more of the same, very interesting but actually not a lot of extra substance than the previous programmes (albeit done on a larger scale, and in the middle of winter). It was great to see her end on a success though, and particularly with the wind and rain forecast on the day!

I also found it interesting that she didn't call on 3rd sector "expert help". In the first episode she made use of Sustrans, the second one called on Living Streets, but the third mainly focused on Durham council itself - which was lovely to see. It was also great to see a school travel advisor getting well deserved attention!

The thing that hit me most about the programme, however, was the adverts in the breaks. There were so many adverts for car insurance! More Than, Tesco, Money Supermaket, Go Compare etc etc. I felt it rather undermined the message of both the programme and the advertisers, but hey - maybe that's just me!

The Woman Who Stops Traffic Hits Boston

Last night saw the second episode of channel 4's "The Woman Who Stops Traffic". Set in Boston, Lincolnshire, Kristen tried to reduce the traffic in the town described as "Britain's Fattest".

Despite some small successes (particularly the number of children and parents walking to school on the day), her intervention didn't work - there was actually more traffic on the day of the car free-day!

From my point of view, I felt it was very brave of channel 4 to show the programme anyway (though the cynic in me thinks it is all part of a bigger story - this week is the "hero takes a knock", next week: "hero returns triumphant").

So what went wrong?

My feeling is that she fundamentally didn't know how to talk to the Bostonians. She was distracted by the tag of "the fattest town in Britain" and assumed that the primary behaviour change driver would be about their health. She was appealing to individuals in a long term manner, rather than the benefits they would see immediately (with health being a useful side effect).

Zoe, one of the mums at the school (who drives in 20 minutes early to ensure she gets a car parking space for the school run!) summed it up when she said "I live for now".

The area had a very strong local identity, so I was surprised she wasn't appealing to feelings of community pride in the same way as she had in Marlow. I think the programme was trying to focus on the different benefits of changing car use over the series, but "health" and "the environment" aren't motivating factors for a lot of people. She would have been better to look at a more self focused attitude - what is in it for me? - to which the answers are "more money" (not spending on petrol); more time (not driving round looking for a parking space); and "more friends" (the social aspects of walking).

There were a number of sequences when I physically cringed at the way she was preaching to the locals. It reminded me of "Marjorie Dawes" of Fat Fighters (Little Britain), in the way she used negative emotions (guilt, emotional blackmail). Again Zoe summed it up: "she nags on a bit".

Overall Boston was somewhere where everyone seemed to feel a bloody minded entitlement to drive. The ray of hope was on the estate where Mandy (the estate matriarch) persuaded everyone to walk to the school, but this was done as a social event, not for the "greater good" of improved health.

The woman who stops traffic - did it work?

So I pondered earlier whether "The woman who stops traffic" on Channel 4 had worked in Marlow long term - has the number of cars on the road dropped sustainably, or just for the one day?

I got a Google alert this morning which answers some of the question...

Bucks free press - TV mom to complain over Marlow documentary

While bearing in mind the sensationalist nature of local papers (though I don't know this one specifically), the suggestion is that the event didn't have a long term impact.

Is that a surprise? no - I don't think so. The "great and the good" seemed quite apathetic and these things take more than a day to get embedded as a habit.

Does it matter? Is it still valuable as a TV programme? Yes - absolutely. This has moved the issue up the agenda, and I have had conversations about traffic with people who have never shown an interest before - as a direct result of the programme.

Unfortunately, one TV programme or one "walk to school" event won't get everyone out of their cars for the school run - oh that life was that simple! That doesn't mean we shouldn't do it, and it doesn't mean we shouldn't celebrate when we do have successes.

The Woman who stops traffic

I think I have got a bit "blogged down" recently with the conference. It was a lovely idea to post something on each session, but it meant I didn't want to write anything else until I had got that out of the way.

I will write about my workshop session once I have prepared some of the materials I want to link to from the post.

In the meantime I wanted to talk about "the woman who stops traffic" a Channel 4 programme last night (1 of 3) which has been billed in some places as "Jamie's School Dinners" for sustainable transport.

Disclosure: Just so you know, one of my colleagues is involved in next weeks episode (in Boston, Lincs) looking at encouraging walking. It will also feature Strider (the primary campaign mascot). I wasn't involved in the programme at all (I was on jury service), so hopefully I can be objective!

I really enjoyed this programme. It showed the problem without being (too) sensationalist. The problem in Marlow (as in many towns) is that a quarter of all journeys made were under 2 miles. This number of cars put huge pressure on the town centre, the high street and the historic suspension bridge over the Thames.

I loved the quote from the traffic engineer near the beginning: (everyone thinks) "Traffic is other people". It reminded me of Satre: "Hell is other people"!

All the "great and the good" of the town were hugely sceptical of Kris - one man actually walked out of a a meeting because he thought the meeting was going to be about "transportation" rather than "reducing car use" (go figure!). They were preparing to invest millions of pounds into new roads and car parks, yet couldn't find £3000 to run a "go car free for one day a week" campaign (starting with a single day of action).

The most shocking section for me was when Kris visited a school for the first time. I have never been a school travel planner, so the first parent meeting (200 kids at the school, Kris puts out 40 chairs "the rest of the parents can stand", only 12 turn up!) was a huge insight into quite what a difficult job being a school travel planner is. The attitude of the parents was exactly what I expected ("What if it rains","I would if everyone else did", "it's too dangerous", "we need a proper crossing"), but I was shocked how strongly they believed their positions - they were not open to change at all.

There then followed a classic media "against all odds" story, with Kris trying to whip up support and being rebuffed at every turn. It was very well told, and you truly didn't know what would happen at the end of it.

Although I would have liked to see the story of the school mums a bit more -the most vociferous critic became the most ardent supporter by the end, and her epiphany was glossed over - I really felt firedup at the end of their "change gear" day. There were fantastic "before and after" shots of empty streets, only 6 kids went to school by car and the traffic in the town had halved on their "change gear" day.

What I would love to know - and if you know please comment - is whether the "don't drive one day a week" message got through, and traffic in Marlow has stayed lower.

The programme was originally concieved as a one off, but the strength of the first programme led to two more being created, and a supporting website too.

For me, the crucial difference between this and Jamie's school dinners is that Jamie needed Government (local and central) action. While there does need to be far more money put into promoting sustainable transport, and also improved infrastructure, there also needs to be action by ordinary people like you and me choosing to use our cars less. Despite sceptics comments, these campaigns are not "anti-car", they are just proposing "responsible car use" - thinking before you make a journey.

The show is available for the next 30 days through 4OD - go watch it! (www.channel4.com/4od/index.html).