To despair at our obession with cars

[SelkieQualia]

They are awful. Noisy. Polluting. 4 million people die every year from the effects of air pollution. Housing developments are built around them, which means that the most vulnerable people in our society - young people, the elderly - are made even more dependant on those who drive.
Why do we tolerate such terrible public transport and cycling infrastructure?

Despair all you like, it will take a lot to get me off the road. Enjoy your bus ride

I will say in Ops defence whilst the U.K. public transport system is shit and expensive the British do love their cars regardless. They are a status symbol. We also lead a fast paced life here and they are more convenient.

From our home in village A it takes six minutes to drive to drop off at nursery in neighbouring village B, then four minutes from that into another village C for work at the primary school. However, I kid you not, the journey by bus would take a minimum of an hour by bus, involving two changes; our village A line into town nine miles away takes 35 mins. Then change onto line for nursery village B, and another 25 minutes back. Then get off to do drop off and wait for next bus to continue to village C.

I think unless you’re commuting a straightforward trip into a town and back, then bus travel for rural areas (and we’re in Sussex, not the Highlands!) won’t ever work for many.

FWIW I’d love an electric car and have a driveway, but can’t afford the outlay.

Unfortunately cars for many people are essential.

I need to drive my son to school every day and pick him up. I also need to drive to work myself which is 26 miles away from home.

Wish my life was like Eastenders with everything on my doorstep so I could walk

@SelkieQualia can I ask what you have done to address this? Have you spoken to your MP or local councillors? We have some decent cycle networks here, but, they were heavily campaigned for. Perhaps you could start up a local initiative.

I agree - for cities, where there is excellent public transport. For example, I haven't driven to London for 20 years. But there is almost no public transport where I live that goes anywhere else. So unless it's walking distance, I have to drive.

I really really wish folk would stop saying "our" when they mean "some people's" Public transport/walking/cycling is a great solution for city life, not so much for us rural types.

I'm afraid even good public transport wouldn't solve my children'a commitments. I need a car. DS had karate till 5.15 yesterday followed by football at 5.30 a ten minute drive away. Dd gets the bus to school but it drops off and picks up at 7.30 am and 4.45 pm and isn't on a local bus route and isn't walkable especially in winter. DH and I have a car each and they are both essential.

Most people who hate cars tend to live in London or other big cities. Politicians haven't a clue about realities.

Bertiequeen, you wish you could live somewhere like eastenders where everything is on your door step? There are many cities in the uk to choose from.

Mrsarchchance, presumably you've chosen your way of life and where to live?

I really don't think suggesting people move to cities to avoid using cars is reasonable. People live rurally because there are rural jobs that need doing. There isn't the infrastructure to accommodate the whole population in cities, within walking distance of everything they need.

@SleeplessInEngland

On the plus side, the uptake of electric cars has surpassed all expectations and they're much quieter and cleaner.

On the downside, there isn't enough lithium in the world to to supply just the USA . The batteries on an electric vehicle are designed for 120,000 miles. However the damage they do to the environment being produced & recycled it would have to last 130,000 miles plus. Climate change in my opinion is the next crises to impoverish the masses The average electric car has 8kg of lithium. Annual supply is 100,000 tonnes or 100,000,000 kilos. The usa alone has 284 million vehicles. If they lasted 15 years before being replaced. They would have to build 18,933,333 cars per year. Needing 151,466,667 kilos of lithium per year. Far in excess of annual production that already has uses in other products. If the whole world goes electric how can they possibly do it?

I wouldn't last an hour cycling on the roads, I'd definitely end up dead!

I like my car, I don't want to get on buses with a load of shopping or have to factor in bus times when ferrying my kids around to their various clubs. To get my son to football on a Saturday would take 45 mins by bus but 10 minutes in a car and that's just one way and not to mention matches on a Sunday which are spread all over SE London!

A car makes my life easier and buses are vile!

I really really wish folk would stop saying "our" when they mean "some people's

Agree!

I'm not 'obsessed' with cars, but I do work in the middle of nowhere with no public transport.

What about shopping? Getting it delivered means a big refrigerated van driving around all day.

I hate driving so drive as little as possible and use public transport sometimes, but I'm in no way obsessed.

What about shift workers with no other mode of transport?

Take your preaching elsewhere

I do wonder why we don't car share more. It could have taken off but really hasn't spread much beyond cities. I have actually never owned a car - been trying to get my license for over a year from dvla but that is another story. It seems like the worst possible timing to get a car, financially, environmentally I don't want to. If I could book one at ease and have it dropped off and picked up,rather than owning one that will sit unused for many days, that would be great.

I would love to live somewhere with a school, shop, play park, church, and pub/restaurant within walking distance. But those places are very desirable and thus very expensive. I live in a suburban housing estate where all of those amenities are at least two miles away. Unless someone wants to give me a couple of hundred thousand pounds for a better house I don’t have a choice.

Op even when society is at war over oil and prices are rising which will make people pay more and more to use a car - even then the love for. Ads doesn’t sway

People will spend more on motoring each month than their food bill. Convinced that it is the only way. Unaware that their lives have been planned that way as it creates profit and sod the death toll

I live in a suburban housing estate where all of those amenities are at least two miles away.

Who allowed the housing estate to be built without the needed facilities?

@SnackSizeRaisin

Totally agree with you OP. Quality of life would be so much better without cars in towns. It's a big mental hurdle to imagine it for most people. Electric cars are not the answer as they are expensive, just as bad for the environment and just as dangerous. Electric bikes are where the future lies in my opinion. Ideal for lazy people. Just need to get the government to subsidise them

So uplifting to be called ‘lazy’ SnipySnideRasin! Rather more grateful that after disintegrating L1&L2, snapping L3 and L4 vertebrae in a riding accident, my electric ‘lazy’ bike facilitates me cycling distance and topography that would otherwise prove too stressful for my lower back - increasing long term damage.

Better not to give a flyingf**k and to be able to do some exercise and tolerate the judgy glances and pontification of the likes of you, than none at all. I feel it is a privilege I am able to afford a decent one at £2350 -not fancy, but reliable, and performs under my great (lazy) weight. Sadly, not everyone can invest in a lazy bike.

I don’t get subsidies, not even child benefit, never have. I chose not to claim it even before means testing (DC now 17 and 13). I don’t claim any bursaries for school feels, although we could possibly manipulate things like some of our peers do with mortgages, I am grateful my daughter’s musicianship has earned her a scholarship (10% honour) to a top music school, but I will be paying more than St.Mary’s Calne - a ridiculously expensive school where she has a deposited place that she will not be taking up. The cost of music lessons is an additional £14700 on top of boarding fees £32,000 at Wells; not many of we lazy people can afford this, and private health cover to release the NHS burden.

I don’t get the benefit of taking home even a penny from January 1st until mid-August, at which point my financial contributions towards the lives of others stop, and I’m allowed to keep a few quid by HMRC. But lazy because I plug in my bike..... wow! Perhaps I should reevaluate my efforts!

What about shopping? Getting it delivered means a big refrigerated van driving around all day.

Would 25 extra cars with one person in them be better?

Would you rather 50 solo occupied cars or one bus driving round each day?

I do wonder why we don't car share more
My DH was asked to car share with a colleague and he refused. He’d have to go out 15 minutes earlier to pick them up and get home 15 minutes later after dropping them off. Have to wait if they were running late and that would make him late. Have to make annoying small talk all the way to work. Couldn’t listen to his language learning course which is what he currently does in the car. DH often works late so the person could be sitting waiting for an hour after their shift ends and he’d feel pressured. Or if he was out visiting a client he’d have to go back to the office to collect the colleague instead of just going straight home. It was just another chore and an inconvenience which didn’t benefit him beyond a few quid towards petrol.

Who allowed the housing estate to be built without the needed facilities?
The planning inspectorate. The council actually turned it down partly for those reasons so the developer appealed and the planning inspector overruled them.

Wonderwall80

There are similar schemes to buying a car for £30k, finance and you can pay each month

Whilst I’m sorry to hear that you’ve had some terrible injuries, not everyone is in the same position. Bikes both ebikes and etrikes are used as mobility aids for many people.

A very middle class thing to despair at. Only people that fail to check their privilege despair like this. Arguably personal motoring has been the most liberating comfort ever experienced in society. It equalises people’s opportunity to get out there for work, education and leisure. And it’s absolutely the most liberating facility that women have to give them personal independence and a sense of safety.

@ivykaty44

What about shopping? Getting it delivered means a big refrigerated van driving around all day.

Would 25 extra cars with one person in them be better?

Would you rather 50 solo occupied cars or one bus driving round each day?

But then you would have to share the bus with the public

Not for me thanks