Thinking drivist - rate my rant

The biggest issue that I see is the space that is taken up by personal cars. We simply cannot continue to allocate more space to cars as that'll just encourage more driving which then creates a demand for even more space which pushes houses/shops/workplaces further apart which then requires more cars and yet more space allocated to them. Rinse and repeat.

We're now seeing the actual results of all the failed promises of car adverts - congestion, pollution, sedentary population and traffic KSIs. It was an interesting experiment (apart from all the deaths involved) but it's time to realise that it's not sustainable.

We have to prioritise active travel and public transport to reduce the down-sides of personal cars and to also free the roads for more important traffic such as delivery trucks, work vans and emergency services.

As HP says - it's not "we can't have (any more) active travel because any car reduction and we'll go into chronic withdrawal. Organs will not arrive at hospitals for transplant, there'll be no fuel at the pumps and people will have to wait until next day to get their boxed set of whatever (see - I'm already behind...)". It's quite likely I'll die before the great age of large private motorised transport (inc. business use) is changing.

However we are continuing to expand our road infra. That comes at a cost to drivers, never mind anyone else - because we can't maintain existing stuff. We're still encouraging driving, however much we say otherwise.

There is also a huge amount of low-hanging fruit in terms of around 1/3 of journeys which are very short (figures vary).  Unless our "culture is too toxic" - which it certainly hasn't been when other car-addicted countries have made changes.  Even the US has managed to boost cycling use in places form essentially none - but I'm thinking Denmark / Sweden / Norway (cold! hilly!) / Paris / Seville.

So I think there's a middle way.  We may not be able to get to The Netherlands in terms of infra from where we are in one go. (Note that even there sharing roads is perfectly fine as long as speeds and traffic volumes are low.  It's not "must segregate everywhere or it doesn't work").  Just like lots of other places we can make a 2nd class, tatty but serviceable network for walking and cycling.  It won't cost more than a teeny tiny fraction of the "strategic transport" budgets (mostly car, then train).

What we need to do is reduce our subsidies for motoring - or at least stop rolling out tons of new roads.  We need to budget for active travel like adults e.g. a larger percentage and it should be ongoing, not our current occasional "give the children some sweets when they complain" method.  We need sensible minimum standards - ideally national ones.  No "paint and sign it better".  Move on from the "do it if you want, do it how you like" because we don't apply this to the road and railways. And it has to start with networks, not isolated bits of infra. Like Chris Boardman said in Manchester - if you've can make a good area in one place people other areas will start lobbying their representatives for the same.

I can never get my head round the amount of outrage car park charges causes among drivers, or how local politicians always acquiesce to them, when it literally amounts to no more than the cost of half a cup of tea. Do they not understand simply driving their vehicle in the first place has cost them more than the parking charge ever will ?

I guess it happens everywhere, we have the same debate in Trafford with a Labour council being opposed by the Tories and being accused of killing town centres and the motorists claiming they will go to the Trafford centre where parking is free.   The cost of fuel for the extra miles doesn't appear to enter their equation.

Local council by-election last week, one of the biggest issues* was the increase in the cost of parking permits to £50 per year (£100 for a 2nd car). Even the Green Party candidate is against it.

The local train station charges over a grand for an annual car park ticket, £50 is a bargain.

* hard working families, stealth tax, et-fucking-c

andystow wrote:

It is ranty.

Only if you...yourself...are one of...them...

Two things jumped out at me.  One about engines idling...the car park at work at lunch is full of sad feckers sitting in their cars...with their engines on...for 30 minutes.  Because it's cold out.  But they can't sit in the canteen the company heats for them?  One young lad thought it was necessary to have the engine on...to charge his phone.  Which is as much a comment on that work-shy bastard who doesn't want his phone to run out of charge when he should be working...

Space - traffic volume has doubled in 30 years.  And all cars and vans are getting bigger and heavier.  Some houses have 5 or 6 cars outside them, does everyone living there need a car?

A couple of guys next to me often go out to the parking lot to remote start their cars about 15 minutes before the end of the work day. Granted, we had weeks of the temperature hanging around 0 °F / -18 °C, but still, I had normally ridden my bike in.

I try to make them feel bad by asking them to warm my bike up while they're out there. I hope they at least feel a little soft.

"But it's cold!" fully rebutted by a Canadian. In a Finnish winter.

Skip straight to the "specialised winter gear" section.

Daveyraveygravey wrote:

Two things jumped out at me.  One about engines idling...the car park at work at lunch is full of sad feckers sitting in their cars...with their engines on...for 30 minutes.  Because it's cold out.  But they can't sit in the canteen the company heats for them?

That reminds me of when it's a frosty morning, and you get your bike out of the shed, put your gloves on and go.

Whereas the neighbours are sitting there in their cars with the engine running and their wipers going back and forth to clear the ice on their windscreens.

(Does anyone else remember when people used to actually scrape their windscreens, using a 'scraper', or did I just dream that...?).

brooksby wrote:

Daveyraveygravey wrote:

Two things jumped out at me.  One about engines idling...the car park at work at lunch is full of sad feckers sitting in their cars...with their engines on...for 30 minutes.  Because it's cold out.  But they can't sit in the canteen the company heats for them?

That reminds me of when it's a frosty morning, and you get your bike out of the shed, put your gloves on and go.

Whereas the neighbours are sitting there in their cars with the engine running and their wipers going back and forth to clear the ice on their windscreens.

(Does anyone else remember when people used to actually scrape their windscreens, using a 'scraper', or did I just dream that...?).

Good point!  Or they pour water out of the kettle all over their pride and joy.  And yes, I still scrape.  The bastards that only do a peephole in the windscreen and leave all the other windows frosted up

Daveyraveygravey wrote:

[The bastards that only do a peephole in the windscreen and leave all the other windows frosted up

Ugh, when it snowed heavily last spring I was nearly knocked off by a driver pulling out of her drive with a 6 inch hole cleared on her windscreen and 3 inch one on her side windows. Then couldn't for the life of her understand why I stopped and stood in front of the car, telling her to reverse back onto her drive and clear them properly. 

brooksby wrote:

(Does anyone else remember when people used to actually scrape their windscreens, using a 'scraper', or did I just dream that...?).

I have one of those in my boot, but I can't remember the last time I had to use it. My car spends its nights, and most days, in the garage. My neighbors seem to use their garages to store boxes of stuff they never unpacked after moving in two decades ago, instead.

A lot of garage / car combinations now, if you did manage to get the car inside, you wouldn't then be able to open the door to get out.

mdavidford wrote:

A lot of garage / car combinations now, if you did manage to get the car inside, you wouldn't then be able to open the door to get out.

I used to read the motoring page in the Telegraph and there were many complaints about garages being too narrow to accommodate modern cars.   There were suggestions that a campaign should be started to make wider garages a legal requirement.

It didn't appear to occur to any of the correspondents that car size bloat was the problem.

Born in Derby, lived in the USA for decades. Currently in Illinois, USA.

brooksby wrote:

Daveyraveygravey wrote:

Two things jumped out at me.  One about engines idling...the car park at work at lunch is full of sad feckers sitting in their cars...with their engines on...for 30 minutes.  Because it's cold out.  But they can't sit in the canteen the company heats for them?

That reminds me of when it's a frosty morning, and you get your bike out of the shed, put your gloves on and go.

Whereas the neighbours are sitting there in their cars with the engine running and their wipers going back and forth to clear the ice on their windscreens.

(Does anyone else remember when people used to actually scrape their windscreens, using a 'scraper', or did I just dream that...?).

A pet hate of mine is cars idling. We have a few offenders round here and it's horrible walking past them taking the sprog to school.

Best thing I've bought for the car is a cover. Whip it off in the morning and ready to drive.

I think a lot of people still think they need to warm up the engines on cold days though it has been decades since this has been necessary. Their knowledge of the highway code probably stems from the same era.

brooksby wrote:

(Does anyone else remember when people used to actually scrape their windscreens, using a 'scraper', or did I just dream that...?).

"Life hack: Running your engine to defrost your windscreen costing you too much in petrol? Why not scrape it off with a bit of plastic instead?"

I've still got a can of that in the cupboard full of Stuff, next to my washing machine. Blue and white tin.