to think people who say they cant live without there car are stupid ?

[lins1uk]

havent got a car yet, my dp is taking lessons and will be getting a car when he passes but people who say they cant live without there car are surely stupid ?
havent they heard of the bus or tram etc ?
i have two kids and one on the way and i will still use public transport when we have a car!
plus i walk 25 mins to school and 25 mins back twice a day i just think people who rely on there car for everything are just plain lazy,
i agree it is nice to have a car but its not everything!
sorry if you feel diffrent but thats how i feel!

LOL - if by "keep the garden down" you mean "eat all precious plants and let the grass grow completely unchecked" then maybe...

Horses, goats and sheep have only one hobby each - Horses get minor ailments which absorb all your money and ensure they can never rarely be ridden, goats escape and sheep die.

You've really got it in for animals. You're not a farmer are you?

cows produce a lot of methane, which is one of the worst greenhouse gases

No - but most of my neighbours are sheep

I am also practising my arguments for when DS decides that he "needs" a pony!

yes better off with goats milk if you can catch the blighters.

I can't move for goats running about the place.. am laughing inanely to myself now I have to stop ..

OP, you've got some nerve! You suggest that people that can't live without their cars are stupid, however, you appear to have no idea about using capital letters, apostrophes or the difference between there and their.

I suggest you wind your neck and work on improving your illiterate ramblings rather than criticising other people for wanting to drive their cars.

YABU for many people due to their schedules...kids to 2 different schools...on to work...back to schools a car is a necessity.

Good for you that you manage without one but Im guessing once youve got one you will find yourself choosing it over sitting next to a mad smelly stranger on an overcrowded bus any day.

yabu!!!!!!

If you think everyone can manage without a car why is your dp getting one?

I do not live in a rural area but imagine most people who do would have to have one...as the current govt has shut many rural post offices, many village shops have shut, so people would need a car, or time to wait all day for a bus to get any provisions.

However, I would say that much car use is unecessary...and it would be lovely if our towns weren't blighted by the roar of constant traffic and pollution..really the govt needs to increase capacity on the rail network including building more lines, people need to support local shops more rather than driving miles to shop, councils and schools need to work together to make safe walking routes to schools, or put in cycle lanes..I think many people would cycle and walk more if they felt safe to do so with young children in tow.

I lived in London until I was 30 and never bothered to learn to drive - never needed to.

Now I live a mile and a half from the nearest bus stop. I do a lot of walking, but what about the weekly shop? What if my dch want to go to the cinema (14 miles away)? I would be lost without my car - which I bought from someone who moved to London & didn't need it any more!

I agree that people don't walk the way they once would have, and they are less healthy as a result.

Supermarket is six miles away, up a dual carriageway. A weekly car journey is a more practical solution than trundling up there with a trolley.

The only other way would be to get rid of the car and get a taxi each time, but then there are the other things the car is used for... However, I don't use the car every day. I can appreciate how one can easily live in the town without a car, but not everywhere has the infrastructure.

If we lived in France, of course, there'd be a butcher, baker, provisions shop & bar up the road (sigh)

Supermarket = 8 mile trip

Work = 52 mile trip, to use public transport to get to work would involve 30 min walk to train station, 30 min train journey, bus journey to dc's nursery, 2 buses to get to work, then the reverse to go home. This would add 5-6 hours on to my working day and when you work 12.5 hour shifts, no thanks!

Not all our buses have easy access for buggies etc, local train station only has access on one platform that you gain access to if you have a wheelchair/buggy.

YABU as not everyone can live somewhere where there is good transport links.

used to live in London and got fed up hearing people moan when they'd just missed a tube/bus and had to wait a whole 5 mins until the next one.

try living somewhere where like my parents, no trains and a bus service that only runs mon-fri and then it only operates every 1-2 hours, depending on the time of day.

Depends where they live.

In holland towns are designed to enable people to cycle around easily and for children to be able to walk to school.

Sucessive governments have destroyed communities because of listening to developers rather than thinking about the needs of families and communities.

And by promoting choice in schooling rather than all ones children attending the same school.

I don't think it is any coincidence that some of the worst places I have lived have been developed predominently for car users with facilities miles away necessitating use of a car. The poorer people within those communities having only chip shops and greggs and Icelands nearby. No wonder obesity is increasing.

Message withdrawn

I do think there are many people who do make "unnecessary" car journeys when they could walk. There are def a significant minority of people who just jump in the car to the shop/school purely becuase they are too lazy to walk or cycle. We can all make more of an effort not to use the car as much but for the majority of families it is not possible to do without one completely.

Public transport/walking/cycling is not always an option for 3 main reasons, disability, living in a rural area with no/little public transport or no public transport that goes to your place of work and it is too far to walk/cycle and get to work on time.

I have lived in several places and done several jobs where I have had to travel 30-45 miles to work (DH had to travel 60 miles in other direction) and this is not unusual. There was absolutely no way I could have got public transport to have got me there on time and I didn't even have kids to worry about. Yes we could have changed jobs (actually we both did and moved house so I didn't have to commute, although of course DH still has to commute but now its only 30 miles). However that is all about personal choice and TBH there is no way DH could do his job in the small town we live in (there are just no appropriate employers here) and he uses his car every day for work (it is a company car) as driving to various sites is part of his job.

Also, just because it is physically possible to walk doesn't mean that it is possible for people time wise. It may be physically possible to walk your dc's the 1.5 miles to school and then to get to work walk 2 miles in the other direction to catch a train for 45 mins and then hop on a bus for 15 mins followed by another 10 min walk to get to your office. However, it is not possible to do so in time to get to work. So you drive your kids to school, not because it is too far to walk but because you have to be at work at 9 and that means you have to drive.

In a world where we could all afford (or want) to be SAHM's, every village, hamlet and town had excellent public transport, there is no physical disabilty so we are all fit and we could live and work in the locality of our DH's employment (assuming their employment is not rural, on an out of town business park or involves travelling) then maybe we could do without our cars. However, until that utopia (or hell depending on your POV) is created, the vast majority of us we have to have at least one car.

Thats true Riven it is possible to manage without a car and a disability in some cases, particularly in a place with good public transport. When my ME was bad and I was too ill to work I actually didn't need a car! When I did go out (I lived in a place with better public transport) I could catch the bus, walk a bit with my stick with plenty of rest brakes or catch a taxi, but then I never had to worry about being anywhere on time and after an outing I could always have a rest. Now I work and lvie in a differnt place even though I only live 1.5 miles from work and most of the time I can manage to walk it, on bad days when I am in pain and my feet and ankles are swollen I simply cannot walk that far and there is no bus so I have to drive. The problem is not simply the distance but the fact that health wise I struggle to work full time. I can do it, but only just, so I have to look after myself the rest of the time, its not as if I can walk the 1.5 miles and then have a rest for an hour, I have to be alert and ready to start a long working day. I don't like using the car and avoid it when I can but I need it sat on the drive just in case. Its not as if I can call a taxi either as the office doesn't open till 9am and I start work at 8.30 and I never know in advance if I am going to have a bad day.

The design of cities is a crucial point. We've designed cities to make car use appealing and walking unpleasant and public transport is grubby and second rate. And once you have a car you start to be prepared to go that extra distance everyday. Driving to the gym is the most obvious example.

Yes that is an idea but even if I could get over the fact that most people at work have no idea about my bad health so wouldnt want to bring it up, I already own a car so it seems pointless.

When I bought the car I needed to commute to work and had to have a car to do so, it was also worth much more than it is now. So if I sell it all I will have done is taken the hit on depreciation whereas the plan was to keep it and run it into the ground. Its basically worth more to me than its actually worth right now.

Plus even if I could get away with not having the car now, we rent, so could always be chucked out at anytime and I might end up renting a place where I need the car again, the last place we lived in was in a small village 7 miles out of town on twisty hilly country lanes with no bus service. Absolutely beautiful, I loved it, both the location and our fab cottage but the car was essential. There's not a whole lot of choice of rental places round here and if I was short of time to find a new place I would just have to go for what I could get and TBH finding somewhere with nice enough decor, enough space to have a table to eat at and a garden is a higher priority for me than somewhere I don't need to drive.

I suppose I could get away with not having a car if I bought a powerchair and if I didn't own one now I wouldnt buy one, but it seems such a waste to get rid of the one I own (well I will own it in 3 months the loan company technically own it still ). However, even if I risked it and got rid of the car, I'm not sure mentally I would want to go back to using a wheelchair, even if it was powered, I know they can be liberating but for me it would feel like a backward step.

Also of course DH still has to use a car so even if we went down to being a 1 car family we would still be using a car!

I enjoy using public transport & am lucky to be close to a good railway line, although it's no good for where I ended up working.

It was so nice last week to go on a couple of days out where I didn't have to drive or get stuck in traffic or cut up or stressed out. But it's equally nice to be able to use the car for less convenient destinations or times.