To think car ownership is out of control in the UK

[JacquesHarlow]

I fully expect to get a vast majority of "YABU" comments, but here goes:

Firstly, before I get flamed - I am a woman, a car owner, and yes I have a driveway now (though didn't before). I am a car enthusiast in terms of the enjoyment I've got from driving and I don't have an issue with "cars" per se.

What I have an issue with is how ridiculous Britain's councils and governments are on car ownership. How cheap car ownership is. How anyone can distort the living environment around them with their choices.

Have you driven down a suburban street lately, or even an urban one?

Small and narrow Victorian streets with lines of cars packed on either side, and only room for one vehicle to drive down it. Why so many cars? The houses have been there for 150 years. Why now?

And because so many people (often fellow women, annoyingly) don't ever like reversing, you find yourself caught in the middle, having to reverse right back to the end of the street to start again.

School runs are chaos - so many cars, parking up in illegal or careless ways, purely to save a short distance walking.

And the size of cars! Absurdly large vehicles which then take up more road space on the kerbside. Yeah it is "legal" but in a decade where theoretically we want to get better as a country environmentally, most people do not give two fucks as long as their precious DCs are "safe" (you're just as safe in a NCAP 5* rated Yaris as you are in a Merc GLS, but try telling that to people where I live).

So this is the madness of today:

Cars are SO much bigger. And thanks to PCP they're cheaper - and this is why I see so many cars where I live ,and up north when I visit, and everywhere else. The PCP monthlies thing keys right into the British obsession of wanting to look and feel wealthy. Years ago a Golf or an Audi A3 would be considered posh for a family. But why would I buy a Golf when my monthly payments could get me into something BIGGER!

The one thing that isn't bigger, is the United Kingdom. I've seen councils in London paint "parking lines" half on the pavement so that people can park up on either side to let cars past. I've seen people in these Discoveries and Defenders mount kerbs at drop off time without a thought or care for who might be behind them or even aware of this being an issue.

And you can have 1 household in a street of 20 houses own 5 cars. You do the maths as to how much of the available parking is then taken away.

Why are people so aggressive and discourteous in their car ownership? What are we going to do about this?

Some of us remember 20 or 30 years ago when you could drive to another street and not have to face a x5 barrelling towards you, parked cars either side? With a tiny woman peering over the steering wheel refusing to reverse back into the space immediately behind her? But powering through so that you, in your little hatchback, have to reverse 10 car lengths to accommodate her ego and lack of driving skill?

Our city and town streets are not made for X5s, Discoveries, Range Rover Sports, and god knows what else, to be parked along the kerbside blocking out the light into tiny terraced houses.

How do we put a stop to this? I love the Japanese principle in certain cities where you have to name a parking space you own or have access to before you buy a car. Could this work here?

AIBU? How will we ever wean ourselves off this 'bigger is better, and every member of my family must have a car' mentality?

Our only public transport option is one bus every 2 hours that takes us to the nearest 2 towns (not even the city). This bus stops at 6pm. We have no choice but to have a car each.

Its a good points about toilets on long public transport journeys, train journeys rarely have toilets working, no toilets at the station working (locked up) no toilets at bus stops, rarely at bus stations but bus stations are often just a car park for buses, not an action building with resources in it

In my car on a long journey, I can stop off at toilets, anywhere I like, supermarkets, shopping centres, find toilets on my toilet app. I can drive to them

Arent we all what make up the bigger picture?

Someone mentioned cycling. I wouldnt cycle on UK roads, we drive our bikes to bike trails. The roads are pitted, heavily cambered, huge drops in tarmac at the edge into undergrowth, not lit well, cars passing fast and too close.

Walking, I like to walk but many roads round here dont have pavements and are unlit. Roads with street lighting light up the road, they dont light up the pavement, the pavement at night is in deep shade unless you are right under a street lamp, paving all broken and dangouers and you cant see it, let alone the dog shit.

All your suggestions discriminate against those who can’t afford to live in a house with a driveway! Your suggestions would ultimately make the rich richer and poor poorer seeing as only people who have enough space for their cars could travel further for things like work and to socialise/have a better quality of life by going the gym etc. It also assumes everyone has access to good public transport which I can assure you in the county I live in is incredibly short supply! Barely any routes that don’t run often and finish early in the day!

What is the mileage limit on the cheap ones? High mileage users pay a lot more for the same car.

Can I also ask are you in a household whereby only one adult works? Or somewhere with good public transport. The 1 car per household suggestion means you are penalising households where 2 adults work and need to travel to work (in the vast majority of areas in UK where public transport is pretty much non existent and/or extremely expensive)-what is your suggestion there? That one just gives up work or they both get shift work?

OK, fair comment, but I've put in 20k annual mileage and still plenty of cars for £300 or under.

The OP is such shit AI-written nonense. Do we report this?

No person would write this:
Have you driven down a suburban street lately, or even an urban one?

Why so many cars? The houses have been there for 150 years. Why now?

Its a good points about toilets on long public transport journeys, train journeys rarely have toilets working, no toilets at the station working (locked up) no toilets at bus stops, rarely at bus stations

Public toilets deserve a thread of their own. There are 4 in my town of 20k people, and they lock them up at 7pm.

Then they wonder why people piss in the street on the way home...

A 20 minute wait for a bus is a dream where I live 😂

How dare you @Yatzydog .

Why do you think " no one " would write this? I'm sorry if you don't write in prose ,ever, or describe anything in a pictorial way.

I am not AI, but I hope you got a momentary buzz or kick out of trying to gaslight someone into revealing something they're not.

Can I report you @Yatzydog for trying to troll-hunt me?

...& lots of people do, not everyone lives rurally, yet still drive to avoid a walk.

Try living rurally! Public transport is something of a Very Interesting Concept. The buses are supposed to be once every other hour. They don't seem to turn up so regularly, though there are minibuses and coaches that cater for children who live too far away to walk to school. Trams don't exist, I think there was a railway here at some point (looking at street names and houses), but the nearest one is in the city. There are two choices of taxis, both branches of which consist of one car each.

Throw in farm vehicles (pick-ups, Land Rovers, tractors and JCBs, etc.) and you'd have a whale of a time on very narrow country lanes (bonus points if it is surrounded on both sides by a hedge or a high wall that is taller than my tiny car). I seem to spend a significant amount of time reversing until I find a passing point... unless I am in a JCB, and then even delivery drivers take me seriously 😁

You dont have to live 'rurally' (in the countryside) for the need for a car

I live in a town, its linked to 2 towns on either side of it. There is a bus which goes to both towns, thats fine.

But if I want to go outside of those towns, no transport. Bus to the nearest city got cut down and now doesnt run near us, so I have to get a bus, to get that bus. The bus to and from the city stops at about 630

I could use a train to the city but its extremely expensive and slow

The road I live on has pavements both sides. The A road at the end of our road into town, has pavement only on one side and is on a hill. To catch the bus in one direction you have to cross over this very busy fast road to no pavement, walk along the road to the bus stop (nopavement, no seat, no shelter)

The bus doesnt go to supermarkets, it goes to a shopping centre. The Tesco, Sainsburys, Asda, LIdl and Aldi do not have the bus directly to them. So its a fair walk with your shopping to the stops to get back here, then as you get off from that shopping area, you're on the non pavemented side of the road

There are some lovely traffic free cycle routes about a mile from here. Cant cycle to them as the road is too dangerous. We take them in the car.

In terms of my job Im an essential car user due to client visits so I drive. I couldnt do my job, in this town and neighbouring towns and the city and villages in between the towns and the city, without my car. Not possible

You don't need a 3k charging station.

But that's the whole point. If you make riding and walking safer, you need cars less. I would use my bike 1000 times more if I didn't have to drive it to the cycle trail.

I live 8 miles from my place of work. I can drive there in 20 minutes, doing school run on the way. There is no bus, train, tram or any other mode of transport. There are many others in a similar situation. I know people who live in large towns and cities find it difficult to believe but there really is NO public transport available to get me to work.

If you understand how electric cars work… you need a charging station. Otherwise it will never fully charge and you will end up ruining the battery.

I also wasn’t “moaning” about costs. The OP said car ownership was cheap. It’s not at all, regardless of a £600 banger or a £23k car at £400 pcm.

a family car. I’m currently driving a Toyota cross.

They are too cheap and convenient. Double the price of petrol and put more double yellow lines on streets and you could nip the problem in the bud very quickly. Or maybe pass a law limiting to one car per household.

I've owned an ev for years. I charge from a standard wall socket (yes, electrician approved). It really does not matter with the modern batteries if you fully charge them or not. It was better for the older ones if you didn't charge them to full all the time.

The absolute nonsense that people post about evs is just crazy.

Although I definitely agree that any car is a massive financial liability, and if I could get away without owning one, I would.

Just improve public transport. We need more routes, improved frequency of buses and to extend the operating times.

I live in a newish estate where no one is meant to park on the road, except people do, as they have 3 or 4 cars per household, can fit two on the drive and their garages are filled with junk.

I can understand why everyone needs cars though. 50 years ago my parents worked near to where they lived. There were dedicated works buses, they didn't drive - they didn't need to. A lot of industry has gone. Where we are the only people I see at bus stops are those who get free/reduced bus passes. Wanting to get to home from the nearest city at the weekend after 5 pm - no chance - there is no public transport. Buses here seem to be more for leisure purposes for those who have ample time, going anywhere of significance needs 2 to 3 changes.

There is a railway line in our village that leads to nowhere useful. They could, however, invest in this and link it up to at least 2 cities lines, but can't see them paying for that.