Well this nails the SUV culture war colours to the mast

[QuertyGirl]

I can tell you now, they will have thought long and hard about who this will appeal to and why.

Like a cyclist needs to be 'warned' of the presence of a hulking great SUV.

One for the RageRovers among us.

www.forbes.com/sites/carltonreid/2021/07/07/bully-klaxon-or-sweet-toot-suv-maker-ineos-grenadier-has-cycle-icon-on-steering-wheel/?sh=4ab3463445ae

This is tedious and silly. I’m off this thread now.

I hope the level of national debate is better. For all our sakes, but particularly for cyclists themselves.

• a parent taking the team’s hockey goalie to practice or a match

Why not? Don't get this.*

Goalie kit is enormous and heavy. They wear a lot of padding. My son was a goalie and my daughter played a very large, instrument. I’m laughing imagining them on bikes in hockey/band practice days.

And?

I can get a child and a weeks shopping on my bike.

It's not uncommon these days

Yes, you're denying reality.

There are many people doing the exact things that you're insisting are impossible.

Flouncing is the next logical step for you I suppose

The bag was 50 x 48 x 112cm. There is no way it would fit on his back, on a rear rack or in front basket, that’s why.

My sister is a harpist. 😂😂😂

But i wasn't arguing against any of that, just the idiocy of the poster who wants to remove bicycles from the planet because thats what would happen if he got his way and it is almost certain to be a "he", ime women are far more tolerant of cyclists or indeed most things in life.

@Abra1t

That would go on mine 😎

...did I miss the part in this thread where anybody at all argued that every journey, ever, should be on a bike? Rather than just that cars shouldn't attempt to terrorise bikes right off the road and cyclists might in fact not be the antichrist?

And there is no denying that many car journeys, especially in town or city, are short, involve one adult and no significant luggage, and absolutely could have been taken in a more sustainable form. The private petrol car is in its death throes already. Private cars generally are on a slow decline; it remains to be seen whether that will continue or stop.

I live in Tokyo. We’re not the Netherlands, but Tokyo is designed around public transport hubs, walking and cycling.

1. I took my own baby to our local clinic in the pram. I never had a single problem with this. When you live more densely, local services are not far away.
2. Teenagers and older kids nearly always get themselves to and from their own activities.
3. Older people usually manage by themselves - tricycles, mobility scooters and the like if they find walking challenging. Trains are mostly pretty accessible now (though there is always room for improvement). Older people actually benefit massively from the independence and from the fact that all the walking helps keep them mobile for so much longer.
4. When urban areas are dense, your shop isn’t far from you. I just load up the buggy with shopping. I could do a whole week’s shopping in one go if I wanted, but in fact it’s very easy to get shopping twice a week when it’s round the corner.
5. At home health carers can reach many people’s houses when they live densely. Respite care services send minibuses round. We all seem to manage OK and Japan is a more aged society than the UK!

It’s all imperfect and many things here could do with improvement. Overall, though, I prefer it to the UK (and I do spent 6 weeks there every year, so I have a chance to compare the two!). We all stay so much physically fitter here. Errands and shopping doubles up as exercise time, so you are basically multitasking and it’s more efficient - I would hate to have to somehow find extra time to exercise on top of a busy lifestyle. Older people stay fitter, more mobile and more independent. Older kids and teens really benefit, psychologically and developmentally, from being able to go about by themselves and not have to be wheeled around by their parents like infants - and I find it hugely freeing not to have to spend my life taxiing older kids, teens and elderly parents around. Our shops and street level environments are busy and well used, so you walk around and it feels safe and lively (unlike in the UK - the boarded up shop fronts you see everywhere in the UK are so utterly depressing, yet they are the inevitable consequences of a car dependent society, because people just drive out to out-of-town developments where the parking is more spacious). Oh, and not having to spend time, energy money having to maintain a depreciating asset (car) and arse around with fucking car seats and trying to find parking spaces is nice.

There's one poster who is arguing pretty well that!

@Alexandra2001 i do all of those/all of those can be done near me without cars.

loads of older people and loads of new mums don’t have cars as it is, and our/their lives would be easier and safer if there were fewer cars on the road.

this is all coming - I was very very unusual taking my babies on a bike 16 years ago. Now, I see kids on/in bikes every time I go out. No more older people tho, which is evidence things still aren’t safe enough. In the Netherlands in the summer we saw loads of older people on bikes.

I’m about to order a new petrol car, and unless there are significant improvements in both electric car range and charging network will do the same in 2029.

DH will be using it to transport his bike to various long distance road rides.

It's the future and people are terrified of change- particularly when they've sunk a fortune into a car.

I've yet to see or hear of a town or city that has not benefited from traffic restrictions and more bikes.

There almost certainly will be significant improvements by then, but go ahead. It doesn't change the fact that petrol cars are dying and will die. Governments have already committed to gradually legislating them off the road, and every car manufacturer has switched their R&D to focus on electric. The writing has been on the wall for some years.

Indeed. But the government need to do something about the dire state of the charging network and public transport too. It is completely non-existent where I live so ha I g a car isn’t really a choice.