OPINION: New traffic measures are great news for cyclists and other humans, but as dog caregiver Claire Hamlett explains, are also a welcome development for dogs and other animals whose lives can be so terribly affected by cars and roads.

On Friday, more than a dozen new traffic filters will be installed on residential roads in East Oxford as the county council rolls out more of the Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) that started expanding throughout England during the first year of the pandemic. As an Oxford resident who gets around mainly by bike, I’m pretty pleased that I won’t have to contend with cars rushing at me or tailing me down these narrow streets. But there’s another reason I’m happy about these efforts to combat car dependency in Oxford and elsewhere and of course that reason is animals.

Animals don’t tend to get a mention in debates about LTNs and other measures to reduce traffic. The fact that our communities are multispecies is still not part of mainstream thinking, and in policy decisions about our shared environments nonhumans, if they are considered at all, factor in as a separate, ancillary issue. But like children and people who can’t or don’t want to use cars to get around cities, both wild and domestic animals will benefit from the LTNs. 

Let’s start with our companion animals. When it comes to cats who get to roam freely around their neighbourhoods, the benefits are admittedly mixed, with those living on long straight roads or in rural areas more likely to be hit by a car than their urban counterparts. But data from 2006 shows that around 630 cats are run over and killed in the UK every day. Derby-based cycling advocacy group Spoke Out highlights these figures as part of its #catsnotcars campaign. During 2020, there was reportedly also a surge in cats being killed on roads, with Cats Matter, a cat road traffic collision group, speculating that cats became more comfortable venturing onto new roads when they were quiet during lockdowns, only to get hit by cars when restrictions started lifting and traffic started to return. The moral of this story is arguably that once traffic is gone from the roads it should stay gone.

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As for dogs, there are periodically tragic stories about dogs escaping from home or bolting in fright (often because of fireworks) only to end up under someone’s car wheels. But I think there are other nonlethal ways that too many cars harm dogs. Dogs who aren’t used to traffic, which can be the case for dogs who have lived in shelters for a long time, for instance, can be understandably frightened of passing vehicles. They can also develop a fear of cars for all sorts of reasons, such as having a bad experience near a busy road. Having a series of connected, quiet streets to walk along could be a great help to any dog with a car phobia. Additionally, walking along the UK’s typically narrow pavement with dogs can be tricky when other people or dogs are coming towards you and you want to quickly manoeuvre out of the way. I know from experience that this is much more difficult when cars are constantly going past, preventing you from crossing the street quickly. These things may not seem like a big deal to people without dogs, but they really can make the difference between a relaxed and a stressful walk.

Wildlife also suffers from busy roads. Road noise - the constant rumble and roar of internal combustion engines, the crunch and screech of tyres on asphalt - forces birds to sing shorter songs or at higher pitches to be heard. Bats avoid areas with traffic noise. Insects are often reluctant to cross or stay near roads. A reduction in traffic would be a good thing for those species being encouraged to our neighbourhoods by the growing popularity of wildlife-friendly gardens. 

Anyone who cares about the animals we share our cities with should welcome LTNs and other traffic-reduction schemes. And just think how much more pleasant it is to walk down a street where you can hear birdsong and stop to pet a friendly, relaxed dog than one with cars roaring through it.

Claire Hamlett is a freelance journalist, writer and regular contributor at Surge. Based in Oxford, UK, Claire tells stories that challenge systemic exploitation of and disregard for animals and the environment and that point to a better way of doing things.

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