To think we could close some roads for one hour a week?

15-minute cities are a good thing. Try the Kool-Aid! It’s delicious!

So beyond mockery...you have absolutely no argument to put forward as to why this won't happen

We had our street closed on the first Sunday of every month between 1 and 4 . The council arranged it, we had barriers to block the road at both ends, they needed to be manned to let in ambulances and residents et c but it worked really well apart from the children who were learning to ride bikes scraping the odd car but then a business at the top of the road offered to let the residents use their car park. The children loved it it only came to an end when they became teenagers

Wake up, sheeple

on a day when I am in the office? Yes, that will help 😂

I can’t believe you don’t have cycle lanes everywhere has them. There must be fields or parks you can use, pavements for the kids

Nope, I can confirm that where I live does not have cycle lanes. I've lived in 4 major cities in the UK, and cycle lanes are far from the norm, and virtually non existent in the countryside.

Yes - if you live somewhere that HAS them. I know of only one cycle path within a 10 minute driving radius of my house. A bit useless.

I mean you can mock...but its literally happening. I'm sorry you have drunk the kool aid....do you think fifteen minute cities are a myth? Do you think pay per mile won't be happening?

Did you get your tinfoil hat delivered during the road closures, or

You can get fined for doing all sorts of things... driving into a particular zone without paying a toll, driving down a road if you don't have the correct permit? Haven't you heard of this? Have you heard of fifteen minute cities or pay per mile?

It's the drip drip effect....it can't be brought in overnight so it's done very slowly....it's started. More fool you for not realising

Where does one get fined for stepping out of an area?

Have your food delivered a different day

Many people in urban and suburban areas manage without cars. Life is possible without a car. If you mean - as I think you do? - drivers getting access to make deliveries to shops etc., or accessible parking for blue badge holders then, yes, of course that should be available.

But for everyone else, nope, we should encourage non-car ownership as a default alongside improving the pavements/walking areas and public transport. Imagine it - clean air, kids free to wander, less noise, less pollution, people actually mixing with other people.

Impossible? Plenty of towns/cities on the continent have managed this shift and have taken the public along with them. In the UK we seem to have a peculiar addiction to cars. But I am hopeful that we can move on from this and prise people out of their car addiction.

Your reaction seems a little OTT given you admit it would for only an hour.

I hope that one day driving a car in an urban/suburban area is seen to be just as antisocial as smoking in public or drink-driving

how does that work when you live in an urban area.. at some point you need to get the car in and out!

(TW - child fatality statistics)

Unfortunately the psychology of car owners/ownership means that people won't get out of their vehicles unless compelled to do so.

As a reminder, in 2024, almost 400 pedestrians (64 of which were children) and over 80 cyclists were killed on the roads (Gov.uk).

I hope that one day driving a car in an urban/suburban area is seen to be just as antisocial as smoking in public or drink-driving.

5-6 am would be fine for me. Walking the dog with no cars... mind you, not that many around at 5am on a Sunday anyhow.... now they just have to get the kids up and out...

No child or adult is going to get fit by cycling up and down a 500m road for one hour once a week. Unless you’re thinking of some sprint training, but who’s going to want to have to negotiate all the kiddies on tricycles?

What you mean OP is you want your road to be closed so that your kids can cycle up and down when it is convenient for you.

Which hour?
11am to 12am would likely be fine, 6pm to 7pm less so.
Would it be all roads in a town or just some?
Would cars have an alternative route they could take?

a main road near us was closed this weekend. We went cycling yesterday and it was bliss cycling on an empty road. The DC asked to do again today (and we did).

do you want to know how many other families we saw out cycling…,

…… zero

So nice idea but the British general public are unlikely to make enough use of it to make it worthwhile.

We have had a 20mph zone imposed very nearby in the last month. No one wanted it, there have been precisely zero accidents in the zone in at least the past 2 years - but a supermarket was built 15 years ago. Developers had to agree to pay to put in "traffic calming" measures, so that's what we've got... FIFTEEN YEARS LATER - along with a "chicane" and speed bumps.

People mean about the 20mph speed limit in Wales but it has saved over 100 lives.

have you seen the mess around schools? You can't even convince people to walk 10 mn to school, and most parents genuinely are ridiculous to drive when schools are at walking distance. It takes many people longer to fight for a parking space than for to walk back and forth.

So not a chance in hell lazy people will stop being lazy.

I use my car when I need it, I would be more than pissed off and unhelpful if someone try to dictate the time I am allowed to drive around my house.

Its not for everyone - but it is for some, and electric bikes are fine for some shopping and living at the top of a hill. There will never be a one size fits all, but if some can do it and find it easier - then it could be looked at for others to improve their quality of life

why Sundays?

We have food shop deliveries.
Some of us still work.

I use my car a lot more at the weekend because I have to drive my kids to their parties, or sport clubs, drop kids back and forth from sleepovers and so on.

Sundays are the worst days for busy families!