The Anti-Car Thread

[Retro]

A government adviser has called for roads in cities to be “ripped out completely” to combat air pollution.

Dr Gary Fuller, a member of Defra’s air quality expert group, said that cities should instead be turned into “green spaces” where residents and children could relax and play free from pollution.

I'd like to know what this "doctor" is smoking. And of course, the pretext is "we're doing it for you!" No you're not, asshole.

It's an obvious no-brainer that we need roads for a multitude of reasons and I don't have to spell them out. I'd love to see how he'd cope without them.

City roads should be ‘ripped out completely’ to fight pollution, says government adviser

A government adviser has called for roads in cities to be “ripped out completely” to combat air pollution.

uk.news.yahoo.com

 

[TheURL]

It suits these people to forget two particularly useful features of motor vehicles. One - they usually have a roof (which is very handy in a country where it's usually raining), and Two they have space to put heavy stuff (which is too difficult to carry for the two miles he is recommending as a benchmark). I think it's pretty safe to ignore the ramblings of lunatics.

 

[Geffers]

They are slowly achieving this objective in a roundabout fashion.

When I was a teenager it was the norm to drive anywhere for pleasure, now I doubt that happens much, journeys are made, if necessary. This has been achieved by various means, most being cost of fuel. Insurance is another factor, I understand premiums are going through the roof, the fires caused by batteries are covered by same companies that insure ICE vehicles.

Bike and bus lanes another factor to make driving avoidable, frustration at being stuck in a jam with empty bike lane a contributory factor.

Along with 15 minute cities and ULEZ they are slowly removing any pleasure previously attached to driving.

I'm not sure of any agendas at play but certainly the days of 'what shall we do? Let's go for a drive' have sadly gone.

Geffers

 

[Geffers]

I'm sorry, until we have the travel technology like the Jetson's, we need cars.

"They" would be so happy if we were all holed up in our homes, never left, never watered the lawn, never did laundry, never cooked on our gas stove and especially didn't socialize with anyone so there wouldn't be any 5th columns come up for the dystopian world they envision for the masses.

Sorry that was dark. It's been one of those days.

They are slowly manipulating us to your described stage. Politicians and unelected influencers are like Harry Potter's dementors, they are sucking the happiness and soul from many people leaving them with little motivation.

We must not let them win, 2024 may slowly see change.

Geffers

 

[TheURL]

I agree. My parents used to take us "for a Sunday afternoon drive" when we were kids. I never did that with my kids. The bottom line is, we're running out of oil, upon which we've been totally dependent for decades. So they need every trick in the book to get us off it - this includes the modern day bogey man (the world's gonna catch fire cos You left your TV on standby last night - again!!), slowly turning up the wick of stealth tax on the biggest guilty user group for a quick win (the motorist), etc. I can't really blame them for the overall approach - altruism does not come naturally to mankind. But what does piss me off is that more significant influences are considered taboo - e.g. the Global Carrying Capacity, the global distribution of wealth, and that we've delegated default manufacturing to the Far East when we were perfectly capable of making our own cars and TVs here in the UK before. The recent problems in the Red Sea serve as a reminder of a single point of failure, and risk to our economies. We seem to have painted ourselves into a corner collectively - the eco-warriors can wag their fingers at me but I don't feel any personal guilt.

 

[Geffers]

I agree. My parents used to take us "for a Sunday afternoon drive" when we were kids. I never did that with my kids. The bottom line is, we're running out of oil, upon which we've been totally dependent for decades. So they need every trick in the book to get us off it - this includes the modern day bogey man (the world's gonna catch fire cos You left your TV on standby last night - again!!), slowly turning up the wick of stealth tax on the biggest guilty user group for a quick win (the motorist), etc. I can't really blame them for the overall approach - altruism does not come naturally to mankind. But what does piss me off is that more significant influences are considered taboo - e.g. the Global Carrying Capacity, the global distribution of wealth, and that we've delegated default manufacturing to the Far East when we were perfectly capable of making our own cars and TVs here in the UK before. The recent problems in the Red Sea serve as a reminder of a single point of failure, and risk to our economies. We seem to have painted ourselves into a corner collectively - the eco-warriors can wag their fingers at me but I don't feel any personal guilt.

I agree. My parents used to take us "for a Sunday afternoon drive" when we were kids. I never did that with my kids. The bottom line is, we're running out of oil, upon which we've been totally dependent for decades. So they need every trick in the book to get us off it - this includes the modern day bogey man (the world's gonna catch fire cos You left your TV on standby last night - again!!), slowly turning up the wick of stealth tax on the biggest guilty user

I recall being at school in the 60s (yep, am that ancient) and the Geography teacher solemnly saying we would run out of oil by late 70s. I've heard many of the doom predictions, reckon the planet will survive.

Geffers

 

[TheURL]

I recall being at school in the 60s (yep, am that ancient) and the Geography teacher solemnly saying we would run out of oil by late 70s. I've heard many of the doom predictions, reckon the planet will survive.

Geffers

We're of a similar age as I was at primary school in the 60s. The predicted date of oil exhaustion has advanced a decade with every passing decade. It's probably no coincidence that since the term was coined, the estimated Global Carrying Capacity has always been "roughly one billion more than it is at the moment"! Which tells you a lot about the panic our leaders have, now that we no longer feel threatened by the church. But the point about the GCC is that it relies on a permanently unequal distribution of global wealth. If the whole world insisted on the same quality of life as is enjoyed in the US, the planet would have to be 5 times the size. So while we can claim we want to upgrade the 3rd world, if we succeeded it would be a disaster. So we need parts of the world to remain poor. The third world know that, which is why they're all trying to come here. These are the things the media does not want to discuss. Greta Thunberg (affectionately referred to by Neil Oliver as "the celebrity truant"!) ain't gonna fix this!

A friend of mine, who I neither wholly agree nor disagree with, wrote to Just Stop oil to point out that during the Cretaceous Period when life was forming on Planet Earth, the planet was 10 degrees hotter than it is now. He suggested the worst thing would be that some people might have to move to higher ground but that they could still fish! He got no reply but who replies to emails now anyway?!

It's hard not to be cynical these days.

 

[Geffers]

We're of a similar age as I was at primary school in the 60s.

It's hard not to be cynical these days.

It certainly is, many of those pushing agendas seem to get wealthier by the minute.

John Kerry and Al Gore two such multi millionaires.

Geffers

 

[Retro]

Here's some more anti-car news for you chaps to chew on. Here, anti-car climate activist morons strike again. I mean, you really couldn't make this up. Just how can anyone not know that all Teslas are electric?

Climate activists declare war on ‘gas guzzler’ cars... by vandalising an electric Tesla

Environmental activists who have declared war on “gas guzzler” cars have vandalised an electric-powered vehicle.

uk.news.yahoo.com

 

[TheURL]

While it's always amusing when people are made to look foolish, and just to play Devil's Aardvark (er I mean Advocate), you should remember that the Tesla, like all electric cars, has a non-zero carbon footprint. The manufacture and disposal of each one is non-zero, and in between (while it's being driven around), some of the electricity is coming from coal.

 

[Retro]

Indeed, electric cars are not as green as is made out by governments and the mfrs, but they don't really want the great unwashed to know that. In some ways they can be less green too, especially where rare earth metals are required for the batteries and so on with all the mining necessary and limited supply that will eventually kill off production if they don't switch to other materials. It's almost a scam, really.

 

[TheURL]

And then there are all those poor boys in the lithium mines of DRC. I was with some friends recently, one of whom had just bought a high-end Honda hybrid. The other one (who does not drive) asked "What is a hybrid anyway?" Without allowing him a chance to answer I said "when the battery goes flat, you can run it on coal!" Well I was sort of half-right.

 

[Retro]

And then there are all those poor boys in the lithium mines of DRC.

Exactly. Just how nasty a human rights violation is that? It's equivalent to blood diamonds and people who buy electric vehicles should be aware of this. Unfortunately, it happens in other areas too, such as sweatshops making clothes for sale in the West. Hard to get away from, really.

 

[Mars]

Here's some more anti-car news for you chaps to chew on. Here, anti-car climate activist morons strike again. I mean, you really couldn't make this up. Just how can anyone not know that all Teslas are electric?

Climate activists declare war on ‘gas guzzler’ cars... by vandalising an electric Tesla

Environmental activists who have declared war on “gas guzzler” cars have vandalised an electric-powered vehicle.

uk.news.yahoo.com

Why can't they just go ride their bloody bicycles; and while they are at it, get run over (on purpose....) by a great big gas guzzler!

 

[Mars]

I'm sorry, until we have the travel technology like the Jetson's, we need cars.

"They" would be so happy if we were all holed up in our homes, never left, never watered the lawn, never did laundry, never cooked on our gas stove and especially didn't socialize with anyone so there wouldn't be any 5th columns come up for the dystopian world they envision for the masses.

Sorry that was dark. It's been one of those days.

@Tiffany, don't be sorry Tiffany, I don't think that was dark at all.
You so echo exactly how I feel.
One thing is to sincerely care and try to preserve Nature as much as we can, another thing is to preach to us from up high. Their only goal is to make vast amounts of money.

But what really really irks me to no end, is the gradual, relentless, erosion of our rights to live our life the way we choose to live it.
I so hate it!

 

[TheURL]

One feature of the internet that we've underestimated is its ability to accelerate the change in values. Change in values(/attitudes) that used to take 100 years now takes place in 10. In this specific sense the 19th century ended pretty much as it started, compared to what we're seeing in half of a single lifetime or less - not something many people saw coming when they first connected two universities to the telephone line and invented the first search engine. We have to assume this will only accelerate, and it's not going to get any easier to cope with.

 

[Retro]

New London 20mph limits make London the slowest city in the world and it's all Sadiq Khan’s fault, again.

Sadiq Khan’s hated 20mph speed limit makes it the world’s slowest city to drive in, analysis shows.

Journeys of 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) in central London took an average of 37 minutes and 20 seconds last year, location technology company TomTom said.

This was one minute more than in 2022, and was the longest time among the 387 cities across 55 countries analysed.

It meant London was ranked as the slowest city for the second year in a row.

In second spot was Irish capital Dublin, with 10km trips typically taking 29 minutes and 30 seconds. It was followed by Toronto, Canada (29 minutes); Milan, Italy (28 minutes and 50 seconds); and Lima, Peru (28 minutes and 30 seconds).

London the world’s slowest city as Sadiq Khan’s hated 20mph limit drives down speed

Sadiq Khan’s hated 20mph speed limit makes it the world’s slowest city to drive in, analysis shows.

uk.news.yahoo.com

 

[Retro]

Critical bus route cut from Welsh village due to Welsh blanket 20mph limit, thanks to the Welsh Labour party. That's "progress" for you.

Residents of a Welsh village have said they are being isolated after a bus company axed the only local route as a result of the new 20mph speed limit.

The only stop in Llandegla, a Denbighshire village with a population of 500 people, will be cut by bus company Arriva as it claimed the new limit imposed by the Welsh Government adds too much time to their drivers’ journeys to reach it.

The changes are set to come into force from Jan 14 after a review by Arriva Wales of its service provision in North Wales.

‘Dangerous situation’

Residents said people who relied on the service would suffer, with passengers forced to walk along unsafe stretches of road to reach a stop.

Gwyneth Dillon, a community councillor, said the move would “cause a huge amount of hardship”.

Welsh village cut off because 20mph limit means buses don’t have time to go there

Residents of a Welsh village have said they are being isolated after a bus company axed the only local route as a result of the new 20mph speed limit.

uk.news.yahoo.com

 

[TheURL]

Are our nearest rivals (Dublin, Toronto, etc) also subject to 20mph limits, or are their data resulting from other factors? How much had the 20 mph limit reduced the journey times from what they were before? I've always ignored the 20mph limits myself as I'm usually thinking about other things.

Too bad about that Welsh village though.

 

[Geffers]

Critical bus route cut from Welsh village due to Welsh blanket 20mph limit, thanks to the Welsh Labour party. That's "progress" for you.

Welsh village cut off because 20mph limit means buses don’t have time to go there

Residents of a Welsh village have said they are being isolated after a bus company axed the only local route as a result of the new 20mph speed limit.

uk.news.yahoo.com

What our green zealots fail to realise is at 20mph any conventional ICE vehicles will be in lower gear so more pollution.

Guess that may not be an issue with electric.

As @Tiffany suggested in her comment, all designed to curtail our travelling, make it an unenjoyable effort and people will curtail journeys.

Geffers

 

[Retro]

So true, Geffers. Makes so angry.

 

[Mars]

What our green zealots fail to realise is at 20mph any conventional ICE vehicles will be in lower gear so more pollution.

Guess that may not be an issue with electric.

As @Tiffany suggested in her comment, all designed to curtail our travelling, make it an unenjoyable effort and people will curtail journeys.

Geffers

@Geffers, The way I see it? the bloody Greens know well that driving an ICE vehicle in low gears increases fuel consumption and is more polluting, everybody knows that; but they don't give a damn. All they want is to get us out of our cars.
"Use public transport", they say, "walk, it'll do you good".
I know what I would say to that....but I can't say it here.

 

[Tiffany]

I'd like to see all politicians be forced...ummm...required to apply their same ludicrous transportation and other stooopid policies on themselves.

 

[Retro]

In the mayoral election on 2nd May, I'm actually going to vote tory, despite how much I despise them, because Sadiq Khan is such a dreadful mayor who's screwed over thousands of motorists with his crackpot ULEZ scheme and other anti-car measures.

Plus, Susan Hall has pledged to scrap ULEZ (I'll believe it when I see it) and has also pledged to reverse a whole host of anti-car policies.

Susan Hall has vowed to scrap “dangerous” floating bus stops if she is elected as the next mayor of London.

As part of a five-point plan to end the “war on motorists”, the Conservative candidate also vowed to crack down on 20mph zones and low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs), rule out “pay-per-mile” charging and cancel the Ulez expansion.

Tories’ London mayoral candidate vows to end ‘war on motorists’

Susan Hall has vowed to scrap “dangerous” floating bus stops if she is elected as the next mayor of London.

uk.news.yahoo.com

My thread on that crackpot ULEZ scheme scam:

The London ULEZ is nothing but a scandalous money grabbing scam

UPDATE 30.08.2023 There's now anti-ULEZ protest movements should one want to join it. Unfortunately, I can't see them being effective now it's started: too little too late. The website is here if you're interested: https://anti-ulez.com https://togetherdeclaration.org/ What many of us...

nerdzone.uk

 

[Geffers]

@Retro You have the right idea with Mayor, not sure why they attach themselves to 'parties', if their policies are good then vote for them but we all know the validity of a political promise.

I often wonder when I see a 'Conservative' MP sensibly questioning certain ridiculous policies and think; if an MP cannot get required information from Government how the hell can we effect any change.

Guess Bates v Post Office gives us hope. Shall watch that, was out of UK when it became news.

Geffers