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

If you live in the suburbs life would be very difficult without a car.

It’s difficult. I would love to be able to walk or cycle more, but I live in the back end of beyond and it just isn’t possible. We drive the kids to school 10 minutes away as the roads just are not safe enough to cycle. We are within a few miles of shops so could theoretically walk, but again the roads are dangerous and not lit. I have previously run on these roads with full hi-viz and lights during the day, but the deaths of two cyclists in quick succession during the first lockdown mean that I now drive to a safer spot to run. There are no buses. We are near a main rail line which we do use, but again we have to drive to the nearest station. I very much doubt that anyone is going to work on improving public transport for an area with just a handful of homes so there is no way for me to drive less than I do. The saving grace at the minute is no work commute.

I’m physically disabled and because I live on a road with no off street parking I can’t have an electric car.

What would anyone suggest I do?

I already get as much delivered as I can.

@Steroidsandantidepressants

I’m physically disabled and because I live on a road with no off street parking I can’t have an electric car.

What would anyone suggest I do?

I already get as much delivered as I can.

I suggest you continue using your car and don't feel at all guilty about it. I don't.

I don’t know what I’m going to do when the diesel/petrol car ban comes in because there is no way for me to charge my car at my door and nowhere for there to be a charging point for every car. Or even every other car. Or every tenth car.

The OP posts a thread to ask people who can conveniently do so to abstain from travelling by car when they can conveniently do so.

Cue: 1500 posters earnestly explaining that they cannot do without the car for very good reasons.

I think everyone has said that disabled people, deliveries, weekly shop etc have a good reason to use a car. This always happens on MN. The OP wasn't aimed at you.

Plenty of surveys have shown that most car journeys are short and single occupant, they are the target for reducing that debilitating pollution, especially school/commuting/rush hour/urban. Driving somewhere in the evening/countryside isn't the issue.

That is very sad. The truth is though that individuals doing their little trips to Tesco are not the issue - they are such a small part of this. You have good intentions but you are barking up the wrong tree and a little post on mumsnet is going to make zero difference here, EVEN if everyone who reads this thread DOES skip their trip to Tesco, that is not going to save anyone's life.

We should be lobbying to government and the massive corporations. They are the ones who actually have an impact here. Join a climate action group in your area. That is where you can make a difference.

Because the minority of unnecessary journeys being reduced isn't likely to make a huge difference.

This article will give you some insight on why individuals are really not to blame for the climate crisis, and although it's good to try and limit our carbon footprint, there's really not a lot that we as individuals can do:

www.fastcompany.com/90290795/focusing-on-how-individuals-can-stop-climate-change-is-very-convenient-for-corporations

Most of my car journeys are short and single occupant.

@corythatwas

The OP posts a thread to ask people who can conveniently do so to abstain from travelling by car when they can conveniently do so.

Cue: 1500 posters earnestly explaining that they cannot do without the car for very good reasons.

That is not how the OP was worded, tbf.

Because the minority of unnecessary journeys being reduced isn't likely to make a huge difference

If this is true, and I suspect it is, this is why people are prattling on about improving the structural barriers against reducing car usage.

Many areas in question are very congested, to the extent that it is probably quicker to walk. Therefore, you're unlikely to have many people choosing to sit in traffic for 20 minutes and find a parking space at the end to avoid a 10 minute walk, due to sheer laziness.

So there will be a big element of 'necessity'. Carrying heavy equipment. Needing to make multiple drop offs impractical with an infrequent bus service - get off the bus to collect a small child and you have a 30/40/50 minute wait for the next bus, etc etc.

There’s two buses a day here. One in the morning full of school kids and one home in the evening.

If I want a more frequent bus service (one am one lunchtime one school home time and one home in the evening) I have to walk 3 miles. I can’t walk that far.

Sorry but I personally after years of recycling everything and turning lights off etc and doing a really good environment job came to realise that it's not my responsbility in the main. I pay huge taxes, council tax etc -now the bins are emptied once every two weeks not weekly -huge savings for the council. Here "due to Covid" they stopped emptying the food bins -that's right they stopped and the council asked us to empty it into the landfill waste bins -until................. at least March 2021. WTF. . There are no lights in the village any more at night -police and school funding cut to 50% in real terms of what it was. Yet my council tax and taxes go up and up and up.

Actually the guilt I used to feel has gone. Yes I recycle and walk where possible -but they key words are where possible actually I can't catch a bus here -there isn't one.

It doesn't make any difference my recycling etc and lights turning off -when you look at countries like China -who don't give a flying monkeys. 1% is the UK -1%. China 28%. It really is a guilt move -and a poor one at that. The UK can do everything it likes to reduce emission down from 1% to 0.5% but countries like China are not going to stop. Eventually the fossil fuels will run out.

But in the meanwhile better off campaigning for better public transport. If public transport was clean, efficient, safe and regular people would use it.

www.ucsusa.org/resources/each-countrys-share-co2-emissions

Buses are non existant here. As is public transport. We can't walk ANYWHERE like the shops etc

steroid you are the perfect person for car use. It's lots of other people who need to cut back.

If I could walk far enough I could walk to the local shop. I can’t walk that far so it’s not achievable for me but if I was not disabled I could.

I don’t go there to shop very much because being disabled limits the job I can do and I’m short on money so I either get groceries delivered (alternate weeks) or go to the nearest town to go to Lidl.

I can’t and will never be able to move from here to further my career unless I get the most amazing job fall out of the sky.

I hate people judging me. They look and they don’t know and they judge. If I’m having a good day and not using my crutches they judge me for parking in a disabled space even though I have a badge and now this is something else I’m going to be judged for.

There are too many lazy bastards on the roads who think they need to jump in the car to go to the shop 5 minutes down the road. God forbid somebody has to walk half a mile with a single Tesco carrier bag.

I live in this area and it's awful.

Poor little girl and her family.

To clarify, the above comment is in no way directed at the disabled. I'm talking about pure laziness.

Tomorrowistomorrow

I agree. Why are empty shops and offices lit up all night?

Why is junk mail still allowed?

Why are companies like Apple allowed to encourage people to replace devices after 2 years that should work for 5 years+

Why does canned food still come in plastic wrapped multipacks when just about every shop that sells them has a highly sophisticated computerised till system that could quite easily be programmed have 'multipack pricing' without multipack plastic?

People can do all they want to reduce their impact on the planet, but its a drop in the ocean when big business is actively undoing all our efforts at every turn.

I wish someone would tell our council about 'duller streetlighting', the light outside our bedroom window lights our bedroom up like daylight unless the blackout curtains are properly closed.

Really? Ours may as well not even be on for all the good they do. Get more light from the bloody moon when it's full than you do with those lights.

@theThreeofWeevils

And what about all the mumsnetters who post "Should I have a third [fourth/fifth] baby"? Adding to journeys, adding to landfill, accelerating climate change... Someone coming on to post "AIBU to ask you to think again about that next baby?" would get quite the kicking. ..

Yep ^ you are spot on. Cherry picking at it's finest.

This is comparable to asking the public to stop using plastic drinking straws, when the "real" problem is meat farming and air travel. It's not something we can really impact is it?

And what about all the mumsnetters who post "Should I have a third [fourth/fifth] baby"?

Or the ones who simply have to jet off on their long haul flights at least once a year because why shouldn’t they

I absolutely hate cars and wish that oil had never been discovered.

When I bought a house I picked one which is ten minute's walk from the local primary. I checked with the primary that they had places. There's a massive tesco 30 mins away and a m&s a bit closer but we get food delivered anyway. The train station with excellent links is 15 mins away. Disability aside, it's not that difficult to design your life so you don't need a car. And this is a small town not a city.