58 hours a year stuck in Derry traffic on top of pollution spikes good reason to allow e-bikes, says Derry MLA Martina Anderson

That’s according to Foyle MLA Martina Anderson who referred to research showing the average Derry driver wasted 58 hours and £449 in traffic jams last year.

Speaking in support of legislation introduced by the Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon to allow electrically assisted bikes onto the roads, she said: “Research indicates that drivers in Derry, my hometown, lose an average of 58 hours a year in traffic.”

She was referring to a report published in March by Inrix, a traffic analytics company, that ranked Derry as the 28th most congested city in the UK and the 153rd most congested city in the world.

This, she said, was having detrimental health effects, referring to how back in 2016, the Royal College of Physicians had identified Derry as one of 44 cities in the UK that had been in breach of recommended World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines for air quality. This poor air quality was due to high levels of particulate matter which are caused by traffic and cars idling at junctions and the use of home heating oil and other combustible fuels.

“Those particles, as we all know, contribute to strokes, heart disease, lung cancer and respiratory infections,” said Ms. Anderson.