The report, from Common Wealth and backed by campaign groups We Own It and Greenpeace, says no Londoners should have private cars by 2030 and instead proposes a huge network of public transport services involving state-run electric cabs, e-bikes, auto-rickshaws, trams and e-scooters.
"Most Londoners won’t dare cycle because of a legitimate fear of being killed or maimed by a motor vehicle", says the report, which forms the basis of the initiative to remove private cars from the roads. They envisage a utopia where the only cars on the roads are shared vehicle or private hire cabs that are both managed and regulated by TfL, ensuring drivers get fair pay and annual leave.
For cycling, you could hire e-bikes quickly and easily via your annual subscription, and all bikes will be much more accessible with far improved cycling infrastructure: "Dockless bikes are now ubiquitous, booked and unlocked with the TfL app. TfL planners ensure minimum comprehensive coverage across the city, and cycle hire is free to annual subscribers, pensioners and under 18s. Segregated cycle lanes are everywhere, even down to quiet residential streets, which are no longer crowded with parked cars."
They go as far as to say life for professional drivers (now using electric vans of course) will be so much easier due to the little congestion that they will be on a shorter working week, and ambulance services will be less stretched because of the greatly reduced road casualties.
What do you think, could it actuall happen or is this all a bit too ambitious?
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21 comments
I'm not sure why they're bothering with this protest right now.
In a few months time after a no-deal Brexit, we won't be signed up to single market rules, so animal exports won't be allowed anyway.
All the livestock farmers will go bankrupt, especially once cheap imports from the US start coming in.
All the countryside that doesn't get built on or used as a Donald Trump golf course can be rewilded and filled with wolves, bears, lynxes and mountain lions.
If the industry hadn't been so resistant to change (I'm thinking the FTA, of course, and manufactures like Volvo, with their LifePaint for the potential victims rather than their deadly vehicles for the killers) then we would have a lot more of the far safer direct vision cabs out there by now.
Brompton cycles straight into the drivers blind spot: Having taken part in a swap places scheme last week, where a 6’5” copper walked into that very spot whilst I was in the cab, I can attest that the driver couldn’t possibly have seen him. I can only assume the cyclist was unaware of this blind spot. The driver must have felt threatened with all the protesters, so lets give him a break here.
If a truck has such pisspoor visibilty that you can't see a 6'5" copper standing near it, then why the fuck is it ever allowed to be on the road?
This is the question we should be asking every time someone is killed or injured in a 'blind spot'.
The technology exists to eradicate blind spots, vehicles that you cannot drive safely should not be allowed on the roads.
If I was the lorry driver and was confronted with all those protesters on the road in front of me, I'd have stopped and not continued driving at them.
"CWG also now oppose the Canary Wharf – Rotherhithe bridge..., calling it 'very expensive and environmentally intrusive'."
So not a bit like Canary Wharf then?
"I honestly believe it's only a matter of time - someone will die at that port."
Well stop riding into the blind spot of lorries on purpose then you dopes. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
Been following Wout van Aert's recovery - possibility of a minor Franco-Belgian skirmish in the offing - Wout claiming the surgeon in Pau bodged the job and left him at risk of never making a full recovery. Second surgery in Belgium has corrected the issue, he's now at the stage where he can't walk more than a few steps but should make a full recovery.
What a fucking idiot . I have no sympathy whatsoever. The lorry driver does not even no he’s there. That’s how most cyclists get killed in London ,up the inside of a lorry .
protest ,great . I’m all for it , it’s a way to get your message across . But FFS getting your self killed by being a fucking idiot . It’s his own fault . Like bill hicks said about taking LSD .if you think you can fly ,then take off from the fucking ground ,don’t jump off a building . Your a moron ,one less s moron who’s a fucking disappointment to his parents .
The sooner we get direct vision cabs on our lorries the better.
Let's give the lorry driver a break on this one; both the cyclist and the driver were victims of the lunacy happening on the road at that time. No one was hurt, no one wanted anyone hurt, (except maybe the protesters) the dutch lorry driver is almost certainly going to be very experienced around cyclists. Protest, but lets not create danger while doing it
The dutch lorry driver probably couldn't believe there wasn't safe, segregated, joined up infrastructure for protesters like at home
Given the overall standard of Dutch driving he probably didn't give a fuck either way, all this bullshit about Dutch drivers being great is precisely that, they manage to kill 60 cyclists where segregated infra meets a road so they aren't all that and another 140+ cyclists die elsewhere despite all the segregation.
'Car-free London by 2030?'
Hahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!
Protesting is one thing. Purposely puuting yourself in harms way to obstruct someone's business and lawful activity is another.
Utter garbage. The entire point of direct action is to cause a stink and obstruct what you're protesting against, you will achieve nothing by meekly standing on the side.
...might have been better (?) if the video actually showed said shocking moment, rather than just before then panning it out of shot and then just after.
Which video were you watching? I saw it.
I stand corrected: I think I blinked at the wrong moment...
But it leads me onto another point. We're constantly being told about how huge the blind spots are around a HGV (the size of Wales, wasn't it?).
There are all these protesters milling about next to and in the road (and Mr Brompton rides out right into a known blind spot, but I'm not going there).
In the interests of safety and, y'know, not killing anybody, I appreciate it might have been seen as giving in but couldn't the HGV driver have just STOPPED? ("Sorry, mate, I can't safely proceed")
I suspect a lot of people still would prefer to use their cars even if there was an abaolutely amazing public transport system.
It might work in London, but London still has a central body which (in theory) runs and controls and coordinates all of their public transport.
The rest of the country has a chaotic (in theory - the majority are First or Stagecoach) set of transport companies which compete against each other, to the point of (allegedly!) swamping rivals' routes to kill them off and then rowing back.