Cycling activist group Pedal on Parliament have launched an online campaign to have parts of Edinburgh's roads reallocated to the pavement to allow more room for social distancing.
The campaign has called on Transport Minister Michael Mathieson to urgently allow more room for people who are walking, cycling and using wheelchairs in the capital and across Scotland.
Pop are calling on the Scottish Government to set up a #SpaceForDistancing scheme, modelled on plans in New Zealand.
The four measures they are asking for are:
- Temporary widening of pavements to allow people to pass each other safely on foot and queue outside shops if they need to (two metres is much wider than you think)
- Temporary segregated cycleways along key commuting routes to enable key workers and others to cycle where possible.
- Temporary modal filters, closing off vehicular access to residential streets except to emergency services and residents, to discourage speeding, prevent rat-running and allow families to continue to exercise safely outside.
- Lower speed limits on key rural roads to create cycle-friendly routes into towns and villages.
The campaign is urging people in Edinburgh to get involved by "using social media" to "share images of spaces where safe distancing is currently difficult and where space can easily be reallocated" using the hashtag "#SpaceForDistancing".
Sally Hinchcliffe from Pedal on Parliament said: “We need to be putting these measures in place now, while traffic is light and there is space to do so. If we wait until we’re gridlocked, and all those families have been frightened back into their cars, it will be too late.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has proved devastating for many, and life-changing for almost all of us. We need these measures now to reduce the risk to the general population post-lockdown. However, as other cities and countries around the world have recognised, such measures can also serve as a bridge – from the car-centric, unhealthy urban design of the present to more sustainable, livable towns and cities of the future.”
