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!

Some people don't actually have choices. In the main hoices are made on family circumstances and money.

My friends husband has just been made redundant from his local job so his choice about using his car is this....

Use car to travel 45+ miles per day for a salary of £18000 which per year will cost him £1500 or get repossed. He can't move his family to where he will work because my friend would then have to travel same distance to her job. It costs quite alot to move house so not really an option. What he got made redundant from that job? Up sticks again?

Sometimes I get a bit frustrated at the inability of some to place themselves in the position of others.

Some people don't actually have choices. In the main hoices are made on family circumstances and money.

My friends husband has just been made redundant from his local job so his choice about using his car is this....

Use car to travel 45+ miles per day for a salary of £18000 which per year will cost him £1500 or get repossed. He can't move his family to where he will work because my friend would then have to travel same distance to her job. It costs quite alot to move house so not really an option. What he got made redundant from that job? Up sticks again?

Sometimes I get a bit frustrated at the inability of some to place themselves in the position of others.

I'm suprised the op never said "well in the old days people never had cars and they lived!" Well in the old days people never went anywhere! They all had local shops to shop daily, most worked local not having to travel miles and people just didn't go anywhere.

Times have changed, people work miles away from home and we no longer have local shops to shop daily in. I think the op needs to open her eyes and realise times have changed.

Riven, we can't get transport for Ds1 as he has no statement. We could for DD1 but as we have to take Ds1 and Dd2 to the same school we declined it.

Not read all thread but society is basically set up for people with cars; jobs, out of town shops etc..Cars bring freedom and comfort, we share a car DH and I and when i don't have it I depend on others or buses etc which can be annoying at times. For example, kids parties are always out of town and brownies et al are always expecting us to ferry them all over the place. If public transport was better and cheaper and more people didn't have cars then it wouldn't be so bad.

Well yes, I could walk 7 miles to the shop and back with my toddler to buy my bread and milk, down a single track road with no footpath. Or I could walk 2 miles to catch the 8 o' clock bus then wait 4 hours to catch the bus back and walk 2 miles back home. I don't really fancy that, but perhaps the OP would find that an attractive option??

The proposition of the OP is so fuckwitted and myopic it doesn't merit a considered response

"The proposition of the OP is so fuckwitted and myopic it doesn't merit a considered response " I am loving the use of fuckwittery in this sentence

"there are those of us who feel that if we can organise our lives in such a way that we don't need a family car, then we are happy to be able to do this for environmental reasons."

Well good for you! For DH and I to organise our lives in such a way we'd both have to give up our jobs. I must admit given the price of petrol/diesel it's something I've been considering but it's really a non-strater because, unfortunately, we have a mortgage and bills to pay, and we need to eat.

If I was starting out my life again then yes, I would make sure I lived in a big city with very good public transport (probably somewhere like Germany, Holland or Scandinavia)and that I would "organise my life in such a way that we don't need a family car", but most people in the throes of bringing up a small family, who have on the face of it decent jobs, are actually probably as broke as DH and I and couldn't afford to undertake this organisation.

OP, most people do care about the environment you know, but gradually come to realise that life isn't as simple as you seem to think it is.

Hydrogen fuel cells. Already being developed, but not practical just yet. Necessity being the mother of all invention and all that.

I really, really, really think using water to fuel cars is a bad idea.

so far yes they do, which I why I said they are not right yet.

And the problems of using up the water isn't going to be an issue, since it produces water as it's only product

Not using up the water.

But you really think Governments the world over are going to go "Oh, that's fine - just fuel your cars with your taps, we don't mind the revenue loss"?!

As for biofuel - disastrous. Apparently petrol in the UK already contains 5% biofuel.

Don't think that it is going to quite work like that.

Anyway, off to use my car to take my kids for a swim.....no bus to get us there! I could make us all stay at home and sit on an eco friendly spike, but on balance we'd all be happier with a swim!

No, I do realise it's not quite that simple. But I'm not at all sure that using water to fuel vehicles is a good idea.

I think people who call people stupid for needing a car a a bit thick myself....

When you can find a way for DH to get a 20 foot ladder and 15 gallons of paint and other tools to work on a bus/tram/tube, please do let us know.

Expat you are funny. And clever. It'll be wasted on the OP though ...

I couldn't get to work without my car. It is simply not possibly via public trasport to gt there in time for the start of work, and the return journey would be 2 buses, a train and a tram taking about 3 hours.

So I couldn't go and do my job.

DD's school is about 3-4 miles away. Yes, I could use the bus but it would be an hour's round trip twice a day.

Oh, and I couldn't help my friends out like I do now - by looking after one friend's baby one day a week, nor collectign another friend's DC once a week - as couldn't get there in time and manage to get DD from her school and other stuff done.

So, for me my car is pretty much essential so no, I don't think I am stupid for needing a car!