AIBU to ask you to read this, and then think twice before you make any unnecessary journeys by car?

[ArcheryAnnie]

I'm not talking about those essential trips where you are transporting a wardrobe/tools of the trade/someone with mobility difficulties/fourteen tiny children/etc etc etc. I'm talking about all those local trips where it's just you, and you aren't going far, and walking might add on a bit of time to your chores, but walking or cycling would also avoid one more car on the road for that day.

(I so, so feel for the grieving mother in this story, below. I live on a main road and now that I've learned more about things like this, I really worry about the effect that it's had on my son's lung development when he was smaller.)

Court ruling about nine year old who died of an asthma attack.

"...lawyers for the family presented new evidence to the attorney general that directly linked Ella’s serious form of asthma and her death with the heavy traffic on the South Circular near her home. Her death coincided with one of the worst air pollution surges in her local area."

www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/07/mother-asthma-death-girl-knew-nothing-toxic-air-ella-kissi-debrah-london?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

@SnuggyBuggy

The individual doesn't have the power to create a safe cycle lane to their 3 mile away destination though.

Nearly all of my ten miles (each way) commute through Bristol was on roads. I never got hit.

I now do 4 miles each way on roads, including a country road known locally as "Schumacher Lane" with good reason (people interpret the 50 limit rather liberally). Yet I've not even had a near miss on that road.

The more cyclists there are, the fewer motorists and the safer it will be.

I don't drive. The mere fact that an adult woman with a semi decent job and dc doesn't have a driving license seems to infuriate some people, who get really unpleasant about how I must be so limited (no), always asking for lifts (no), demanding people make plans to fit in with my non driving (no), etc, tell me I am not a real grown up and that lacking this one skill makes me inadequate and rules out independence, etc. People can be so weird about cars. Anyway. I don't feel the lack of a car and have very little time for people's weak excuses about how their non essential journeys are, in fact, essential. If they would just admit they prioritise their immediate comfort over longer term environmental health I'd be a lot happier- it's actually really easy to do, watch: I am vegetarian but I eat cheese, I know the dairy industry is harmful and ethically dubious, I prioritise my wish to consume cheese over ending the suffering of the animals it harms.

Your unnecessary car journey to Tesco does matter and is part of the problem, pretending otherwise is just so cowardly and pathetic. Own your sodding actions and choices.

Can any of the stats experts out there say which is more likely to kill you - asthma + car pollution, or driving a car?

The problem is that the alternatives either aren't viable or too much of a hassle. That will always override emotional pleas about asthma/road deaths etc.

Dept for Transport:
"Statistics on reported road casualties in Great Britain for the year ending June 2018 show there were: 1,770 reported road deaths. 26,610 people killed or seriously injured. 165,100 casualties of all severities, a decrease of 6%"

Public Health England:
"Air pollution is the biggest environmental threat to health in the UK, with between 28,000 and 36,000 deaths a year attributed to long-term exposure. There is strong evidence that air pollution causes the development of coronary heart disease, stroke, respiratory disease and lung cancer, and exacerbates asthma."

and just to add in cycling (ROSPA)
"In 2018, 99 pedal cyclists were killed, 4,106 seriously injured and 13,345 slightly injured in Great Britain.""

Air pollution is on the scale of Covid every year.

Air pollution caused by the cars we should think twice about making unnecessary journeys in?

Even without being hit the prospect of cycling on a road with cars terrifies me. Add in trying to balance large bags of food shopping and towing children just scares me even more. The only thing that would get me cycling is separate, continuous cycle lanes.

I do my food shopping 'little and often'. Panniers help of course.

@tallduckandhandsome

Agree that London public transport is amazing, but it's not expensive, isn't the bus about £1.50 and free for children?

I guess it's relative, it cost me £8 to get to Marylebone and back by tube, would have cost much less in my car. (Not that I would drive).

People often moan about the cost of train journeys but I find buses to be expensive. A bus from my village into town (2.5 miles) costs £3 single or £5.70 for a day ticket (returns not available). A train journey of a similar length costs £2.40 single and £2.50 return. The train doesn't serve my village so I'm stuck with a choice of bus or bike. At those prices the bike wins easily though occasionally I need to pick up something bulky so have no choice. If only they had kept the tramway!

As a SAHM I walk and do little shops but can't see myself having the time to do so as a working mum. That said I'll probably do online.

I do like the idea of cycling, just not in the same space as cars. I doubt my kids will even learn to ride a bike as the roads round mine aren't the most cycle friendly and nor are our local parks.

Got back on my bike today
Only a short journey but this thread has reminded me I need to cycle whenever humanly possible

Most roads are basically fine to cycle on without a cycle lane, although of course a separate, well-designed and well-maintained lane is very nice to have (a bad cycle lane can be worse than nothing, though). I do think some people get overly anxious about it when they haven't even tried it, though of course some roads really are too much. But if it's a road you regularly see cyclists on, you can be sure that it is doable.

So many people have never really ridden a bike as an adult in any serious way so it's an unknown and they make a lot of assumptions about how scary/dangerous/uncomfortable/difficult it will be that aren't always accurate. I found driving a car very nerve racking at first too - I think most new drivers feel the same! But most people quickly gain confidence as a driver and it's the same with cycling. You very quickly build fitness too and bad weather is rarely as bad as you think it will be once you get out in it. You can go further than you think you can. You can carry quite a lot using bags or panniers, even more with a trailer.

I truly believe a lot of people who think they can't cycle would like it, at least for some of their journeys, if they did give it an honest try with an open mind. There is a risk of injury, of course, but the same is true of getting in a car, and the guaranteed health benefits mean that on balance the vast majority of utility cyclists are extending their lives, not shortening them.

I've done it myself, I guess if forced to do it at gunpoint my technique would improve but I just couldn't get past the fact that I felt totally exposed sharing a space with a ton of metal roaring past me at speed constantly. I'm a nervous driver but at least I have my own metal shell in a car.

I live too far to not drive to work, and again because of location it it is something I've only been aware of peripherally. I also need the car when my jobs hurt.

But, I will try. If I can reduce pollution that may affect one person it's got to help. It's a needless death and while it won't make possibly even a tangible difference as I don't live in a polluted area, it won't harm.

Poor family. Thank you for highlighting this.

I simply won't cycle on the road. It's too risky. I reckon 1 in 10 motorists are on their phone. When I'm walking I play a game counting how many can drive past me before I see a them on a phone and I rarely get past 10.

We have some empty footpaths and cycle pavements across town that I do use. It's a longer route but safe. TBH I mostly walk though (hence the boring phone counting game).

@Miseryl

The problem is that the alternatives either aren't viable or too much of a hassle. That will always override emotional pleas about asthma/road deaths etc.

It's the "too much of a hassle" that needs addressing. My sister's next door neighbour drives her small son to school IN THE SAME ROAD, and gets huffy and blisters about being busy if you raise an eyebrow as she's getting into the car. When DS was a bit younger and we took other kids home (by walking) for tea, they behaved as if they were training for their Duke of Edinburgh, not doing a very average walk that DS had been doing every day since he was four.

People's idea of "hassle" is getting more and more ridiculous, and it needs addressing.

You’re raising your eyebrows at neighbours to the point they feel they need to defend their choice to drive?

How staggeringly rude. Not to mention self-righteous.

You will do far more by setting the example than you will by identifying everyone else’s faults.

A much better post would have been ‘I read this, and these are the top ten things I chose to change in my life in response, anyone have further ideas?’

As it happens I use public transport exclusively and have been vegetarian for 25 years. I know there are still many, many more things I need to change about my own behaviour. I’d be a self righteous moron to think otherwise.

You're absolutely right. I live in a village 1 mile from DC's school and we're unusually in walking everyday. Ironically because of traffic it's not actually any faster to drive yet people still drive daily.

The thing that really gets me actually is people driving 5 minutes round the corner to the gym so they can exercise on a treadmill. I know a number of people who do this 'in case it rains on the way home'. Seriously you won't dissolve and if you're going home anyway it won't take long to dry off (or you could you know bring a brollie!).

My car was in the garage recently and I had to get the bus to and from work, 15 miles away, I didn't mind as I used to travel by bus everywhere as a teenager and made sure I had a good book for the hour journey. Never again, the seat was so uncomfortable and was very slightly angled so the front was lower than the back so I constantly felt like I was sliding off. When I spoke to my kids about it they said all the buses are like that! Which is why my ds would rather cycle the 5 miles to school than sit on the poorly designed bus. No wonder all the buses I see are barely half full.

Public transport needs sorting, including the extortionate train fares before anyone's going to ditch their cars, but something like that would be too "socialist" for today's voters.

The nearest shop is 3 miles away. There is no public transport. I have to be on duty at 6.30 , including Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

@trixiebelden77

You’re raising your eyebrows at neighbours to the point they feel they need to defend their choice to drive?

How staggeringly rude. Not to mention self-righteous.

You will do far more by setting the example than you will by identifying everyone else’s faults.

A much better post would have been ‘I read this, and these are the top ten things I chose to change in my life in response, anyone have further ideas?’

As it happens I use public transport exclusively and have been vegetarian for 25 years. I know there are still many, many more things I need to change about my own behaviour. I’d be a self righteous moron to think otherwise.

It's pretty damn "rude" of her to damage my son's lung capacity and decrease my son's lifespan by buggering about in her people carrier when she doesn't have to. I have known her for years, and there are no mobility issues in play, she's just unable to contemplate any journey that she can't do by car. I feel sorry for her kid.

I don't drive, by choice. I raised my eyebrows at her when I was in my sister's front garden, pruning the roses, and I saw her take her son to school. I never said a word. Next time, however. inspired by your post, @trixiebelden77, I will scream "PLANET KILLER!!!" at her.

tl;dr if more people raised their eyebrows at idiotic behaviour, then perhaps we wouldn't be in quite the shit we are.

@InTheDrunkTank

The thing that really gets me actually is people driving 5 minutes round the corner to the gym so they can exercise on a treadmill. I know a number of people who do this 'in case it rains on the way home'. Seriously you won't dissolve and if you're going home anyway it won't take long to dry off (or you could you know bring a brollie!).

There's a famous picture of an American gym with an escalator from the car park.