http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/op ... =433182006
Don't drive green agenda down cul-de-sac of persecuting motorists
DANI GARAVELLI
OK, I admit it. I am unlikely ever to win an award for my contribution to the green cause. Like many mothers, I drive a fuel-guzzling people carrier along already congested back streets several times a day on school and club runs, and park outside shops I could easily walk to because I'm too lazy to carry heavy loads large distances.
I'm not the worst offender: our family only has one car, I don't double park, I don't stop on zigzags and I rarely have fewer than five passengers in my vehicle. But having tried, during last year's short-lived petrol crisis, to spend less time behind the wheel, I came to the conclusion that if God wanted me to walk all the time, he would have created a 35-hour day and given me a housekeeper.
For this - for doing the best I can to juggle the demands of modern life and three young children, do I, and others like me, deserve to be penalised by those whose motives are even more questionable than my own? Should I have to fish around for the correct combination of small change every time I want to step out of my car? Or face hefty fines and a possible ban for straying a few miles over the speed limit? Or have to pay tolls for using roads my taxes helped to build?
In the past few years, motorists - portrayed as greedy, indolent planet-wreckers - have become increasingly lucrative cash cows for police forces, councils and central government who boost their coffers under the guise of environmental/safety concerns.
There are now more than 6,000 fixed and mobile speed camera sites across the UK, which have netted in excess of £800m since 1992. The government's obsession with the devices reached such proportions that - according to a YouGov survey published earlier this month - nearly one million motorists are on the brink of receiving a driving ban having notched up penalty points, many of them for driving only a few miles per hour over the limit.
And although the Department for Transport is in the process of changing its policy (giving local authorities a grant to cover a range of safety measures, rather than simply funding cameras), the number of disqualified drivers will continue to escalate if the government goes ahead with plans to ban drivers with just two serious convictions.
Parking regulations are just as arbitrary and oppressive. Last week, Glasgow City Council - which has made mileage out of its decision not to raise its exorbitant council taxes this year - announced plans to raise its city centre car parking charges by 60% (although 600 council workers have access to free city centre parking spaces) and to invest its traffic wardens with new powers to issue on-the-spot fines to car drivers who sit with their engines running, despite the fact that by far the worst offenders are bus drivers who hover at stops, waiting for inspectors to get on board or to poach customers from rival companies.
Such draconian measures would be more acceptable if they actually reduced congestion or improved safety, but in fact the opposite appears to be true.
According to Speedsafe, an organisation that campaigns against the reliance on speed cameras, they are making the roads more rather than less dangerous. Drivers once focused on potential dangers on the road ahead now spend the journey camera-spotting.
The determination of local authorities to line busy streets with increasingly expensive parking meters is equally counterproductive. Not only does it have an impact on passing trade, it encourages motorists to park on the corners of narrow, meter-free sidestreets, where they obstruct the view of other cars, making journeys hazardous and stressful.
Evidence of the money gained from parking charges, and fines for those who evade them, being reinvested in public transport is thin on the ground. There is much talk about bus lanes and integrated transport networks, but the reality is that there has been little tangible improvement since I returned to Scotland a decade ago.
How long has the debate over the desirability of new tram systems been going on? Yet Edinburgh's two-line network will not be completed until 2020, while Glasgow's plans for a light rapid transit system has yet to get off the starting block.
Depending on where you live in Scotland, buses are either non-existent or hunt in packs. In Glasgow, it's relatively easy to get to the city centre from almost anywhere. But to take a trip from the south side to the city's transport museum, Kelvingrove Art Gallery or Yorkhill Hospital by any other means than car or taxi would mean writing off at least half a day. In any case, most buses are dirty and unreliable. It is not uncommon for them to sit at a stop for 10 minutes while drivers chat to their friends or wait for inspectors, nor for them to break down and the passengers to have to be decanted. The vast majority are unsuitable for buggies (meaning you have to stand at the door trying to hold your baby in one hand, while folding the contraption with the other), and even those that have been adapted are cramped inside. All it takes is for a wheelchair user and two people with pushchairs to turn up at the same time for chaos to ensue.
The city's attempt at 'park and ride' (taking your car to an underground station) is marred by a lack of spaces in many of the car parks at rush hour, the limited number of stops, and the fact there is no guarantee the subway will be working when you get there.
So long as that situation goes on I will continue to drive, even if it means sitting in traffic jams and stalking returning shoppers so I can nab their space, or paying out extra cash for congestion charges or parking. Attempts to make me feel guilty, or to pay through the nose for my lifestyle choices only fuel my resentment and make me defensive.
If the government truly wants to cut down on pollution it needs to recognise that - however green they consider themselves - most people aspire to own their own cars. And it needs to provide more incentives for car manufacturers to make, and consumers to buy, eco-friendly options such as LPG (liquid petroleum gas) models.
And if it is sincere in its efforts to get people to leave their vehicles at home once in a while, it needs to stop demonising motorists and start working with them to decide what constitutes a viable alternative for people with busy lives.
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'Speedsafe' indeed!
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