Britain is built for cars

[Ming the Merciless]

Maybe but that 0.1% can be very important.

Point is they can still make those jouneys. It is removing as much if the other 99.9% as possible. For instance I have seen a figure that approx 90% of trips are less than five miles. Ideal for bike distance trips.

 

[screenman]

Point is they can still make those jouneys. It is removing as much if the other 99.9% as possible. For instance I have seen a figure that approx 90% of trips are less than five miles. Ideal for bike distance trips.

I completely agree, I hate seeing half a mile of cars parked outside our small village school at school run times.

 

[Drago]

I went to a fundraising bazaar thing in our community centre today. The community centre is about 1/3 of the way along the village.

Now, our village is barely a third of a mile long. Even at a leisurely pace taking time to let Muttley sniff and wee it takes about 12 minutes to walk from one end to the other.

The car park at the community centre was full, and the lemmings were lining up on the kerb outside. Half of those inside were fat bloaters I can't think why.

 

[User76022]

By and large britain is actually very badly designed for cars, and the roads in much of the south are over capacity. It's just the lazy arriss majority that make the car the default transport option, and that's despite our road network, not because of it.

I wondered how far this thread would get before it became blatantly prejudiced against car drivers.

For the record, I drive my car, sometimes for fun when I don't even need to, and I don't feel even the slightest tinge of guilt when I do so.

That out the way, I actually disagree with the implication that most people are fundamentally lazy. There is an abundance of evidence that while although of course some are lazy, it's not the majority. The thriving fitness industry is proof of that.

Some people are genuinely lazy. But many are simply brainwashed. I wonder how many here have ever applied for a job, any job, and not been asked if they have a full clean driving licence. Then there's the fear factor. I used to live and work in a city. My work was a measly 2 miles from my house. When I first moved there for the job, I'd get the bus to work. I was frequently late, as the bus would either be late, not turn up, or drive straight past because it was too full. So I started to walk it. Great, until I witnessed several acts of violence in the rough patch I had to walk through, and was even threatened myself once, just for being there. So, I considered my bike, and I considered the absolutely crazy city centre traffic. So I finally concluded, I'd rather be in a steel box than a wooden box, and started taking my car. Ironically, the local authority, having realised that patch of town didn't really work well, invested millions in a revamp. I saw the plans. Not a single metre of new cycle path. So I started a bit of a one man campaign, pointing out they have a one off chance to get this right. They just argued that the city already has so many thousand miles of cycle path or some such.

 

[Drago]

I am a car driver, so any prejudice is well considered and observed. I am a member of the group that I criticise.

However, I drive the smallest, least polluting, least impactful to manufacture car I can, and I drive it as little as possible (about 1400 miles last year, and nearly a thousand of those were Search and Rescue related - potentially life saving duties).

The reason so many cyclists die is because of the "rather in a tin box.." attitude you illustrate. That doesn't avoid the problem, it actually creates it. You choose to become part of the problem, to add to it, to perpetuate it.

Instead of whittling on about prejudice, I try to set an example. Maybe you could try it? This is a cycling forum, after all.

 

[User76022]

You choose to become part of the problem, to add to it, to perpetuate it.

That much I can't deny. But that's because as much as I'd like to see a more sensible and holistic approach to transportation, work and leisure, I'm not prepared to give my life for it.

 

[lane]

It's not always easy or practicable though. Easier when retired of course to do little mileage. As noted up thread clean driving licence required for lots of jobs. My job I am required to travel between locations and expected to be able to drive if there is no public transport. I used to cycle with someone who was a social worker - had to drive to work in the city which took loads longer than cycling but was required to have her car at work in case she needed it.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Indeed stop making excuses for driving stupidly short distances in a tin box.

 

[Drago]

That much I can't deny. But that's because as much as I'd like to see a more sensible and holistic approach to transportation, work and leisure, I'm not prepared to give my life for it.

That is, if I may respectfully say so, rot. That's an excuse, not a reason. The reason we're in this situation because of people that trot out that excuse.

I spent several years of my career scraping tin box drivers limbs, organs and occasionally brain matter off the tarmac - your attitude didn't do them any favours.

By cycling you actually increase your lifespan by several years. You're exchanging the near certainty of an increased lifespan for the massive unlikelihood of dying on two wheels. Simple statistics shows your excuses for what they are I'm afraid.

 

[User76022]

That is, if I may respectfully say so, rot. That's an excuse, not a reason. The reason we're in this situation because of people that trot out that excuse.

If I may respectfully say so, your ideas of right and wrong are not the final authority. Unless you've experienced every conceivable situation, you have no right to judge others.

 

[mudsticks]

A lot of it is apathy, combined with generalised fear.

Cycling to commute still seems to have this slightly earnest - lefty image around it.

When we know, it can be fun, when drivers aren't being thoughtless idiots.

And it doesnt really rain as much in the UK as some people think.

But there does seem. to be a massive lack of civility, on our roads all round.

"My journey is more important than anyone elses"

Seems to be the de facto attitude.

And a lot of our roads are too narrow to accommodate everyone comfortably.

The infernal combustion engine is still King, while fuel is so relatively cheap, and the environmental effects of burning all those fossil fuels is still a 'green fringe' issue - rather than arguably, the most important issue of our time.

 

[Globalti]

When i lived in France I was 2 kms from my office along pleasant, flat, leafy boulevards yet I drove very day for two years. It never occurred to me to walk or cycle, I just kidded myself that I needed the car for work.

There's another reason why we prefer to sit in traffic jams, which is antisocial behaviour. Everybody has had the experience of being stuck in a bus or a train with a bunch of rowdy hooligans and said to themselves "Never again... next time I'll take the car!"

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Indeed many like User76022 like to cause traffic jams. Doing their part.

 

[I like Skol]

Am I the only one to see the elephant in the room?

For my commute to work, the car is the only practical option. Sure I could cover the 30 miles by getting a bus or riding my bike the 2 miles to the nearest train station, where I could get the first of 2 trains, before walking the 3 miles from the station to work. But its hardly practical to do every day.

A 30 mile impractical commute. Either you bought a house too far from work, or accepted a job with an unreasonable commute, and now you are whining about how driving 60 miles a day is screwing up the planet but is you only option?
The solution seems obvious to me, but may mean making some sacrifices for your cause. Or you could carry on as you are just paying lip service to the issue and continue putting the blame on anyone else but yourself.....

 

[snorri]

That much I can't deny. But that's because as much as I'd like to see a more sensible and holistic approach to transportation, work and leisure, I'm not prepared to give my life for it.

You don't need to give your life for it, you just need to devote time and energy to campaigning for motorists to pay the full costs to government of their motoring habit and improvements to public transport.