to think that if everyone dramatically decreased their driving,

[kickmewhenimdown]

and therefore their decreasing their fuel usage, then the government would have to tax something else to make up for all the lost revenue? And it would probably have to be something that they were guaranteed to get revenue from, so something essential to the public like extra tax on electricity?

Just drunkenly thinking out loud in the spirit of all these car threads :)

They'd tax the air that we breathe.

Air which would probably be much nicer.

Of course, if I dramatically decreased my driving I'd have to add significantly to the benefits bill since I would have no way to get to work.

Agree with CaptainKirk, I drive when I have to. That would be the 15 miles to work, the 6 miles to dds school, 4 miles to the supermarket. On a weekend I walk into town and back, walk to the park rather than take the car. Its not just the distance, I could not get from work to school in time on a bus. So to reduce my driving I would have to give up work and claim benefits. So not helping at all.

Again would have to give up work and uni if I didn't drive.
Just wouludn't manage to drop kids at childminders, give my mum lift to her work and get into my office on time.

Then there is the 12mile each way drive to university twice a week. It would just be too complicated and time consuming to take train and 2 buses to get home after class finishing 9pm.

Also bus fare is very expensive, too far for kids to walk to get to their after school activities so me driving is much better for our family

What i was trying to say in a round about way was that non drivers should be a little bit grateful all those times i drive 2 mins to the corner shop when I could walk, or long trips across country when other modes of pt are available (despite being overpriced and sometimes unreliable and time consuming), because Im using petrol and being relatively heavily taxed on it and which revenue would have to be recouped on something else if drivers decided to use other modes of transport.

Op I don't think you are making much sense - could you clarify?

But if people used buses instead, they'd have to run more buses. Which would have to be fuelled.

yeah but hypothetically 20 people on 1 bus are going to use less fuel than 20 cars. So the government are losing out on the revenue they would make on the fuel used in 20 car trips.

Im pretty drunk so makes sense to me :)

This is just a tongue in cheek thread for all these anti driving/drive less threads.

You're making a bit of sense to me kickme, but then I've been drinking too

I don't smoke but am willing to take it up to beagle levels if it meant more money for the nhs.

btw I don't have a car any more because I have excellent public transport which I use a lot.

I live within a mile of Dave and Sam and as a return for my public-spiritedness I confident of their invitation to a kitchen supper. I'd walk there, obviously, because we're all in it together aren't we? Aren't we?

You haven't thought about the big picture here - perhaps you live in a town with good public transport. I live in a village with no shop or post office. The nearest town is not reachable for work by bus as the only one in the morning does not get there until after 9.

Obviously I was lying about taking up smoking. But I know plenty of people whose carbon monoxide usage I could offset.

So I should stop making site visits, meeting clients and contractors? Forget the act of making a living?

Maybe I should also move from the village I have lived in for most of my life, where all my friends live and DD attends school to move to a strange town with public transport which actually works, i.e. runs after 5pm weekdays only and more than twice a day?

Not everyone lives in a city and works 9 - 5 in a cosy office!

You are misunderstanding my thread :) All these car trips you make you should be proud of, as you are contributing to the economy, and if anyone questions this, an explanation of how much revenue the government is making from your consumption of fuel should set them straight, revenue that would otherwise have to be collected from elsewhere, that may include the pockets on non drivers.

I am now soberish and this still makes sense, is that worrying or maybe im not as sober as i would like to believe

By this argument, we should all be really grateful to smokers becuase they contribute a lot of tax too. And binge drinkers.

Correct me if Im wrong because Im taking a stab in the dark but I dont think drivers are quite the drain on nhs resources as smokers and drinkers are, so cannot be compared against.

They cause a lot of accidents so perhaps they are.

I read that road users contribute not far off of £50 billion a year to the government coffers, am I being naive to think that this far exceeds the amount they incur in costs such as nhs expenses, road maintenance etc?

Actually just read this and aware that it is by racfoundation so not sure how reliable and was interested in the answer to the last question!

It looks very expensive to keep a car on the road. Am always surprised at how many people seem to manage it.

I don't drive for fun at all. However, as my lovely mum pointed out, if I didn't have ds I wouldn't actually need a car! However as I do have him he needs to get to school and can't get there by public transport (well we could but it would take 2 hours - 3 buses plus waiting for connections - and to drive takes 12 mins).

Once he is at boarding school I won't have to drive during the week at all.

Depends what kind of car you have I suppose. We had a relatively new megane a few years back, was £35 a year tax, about £40 a month insurance and didnt need mot's for the first three years. Was diesel and very efficient so only put about £30 in a week. Fair enough we were £200 month to pay for the thing but I would say it more than paid for itself in convenience and use. We had insurance that meant when it was accidently written off we were reimbursed for the amount we paid for it initially and so were able to buy another car outright with the proceeds.

That sounds quite a lot to me. Over £300 a month.

i go mad at DH, the school is a 5 minutes walk just looked on map quest and it is 0.48 miles

yet he drives the car, it takes longer to drive park and get back home