Safe Speed Forums

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/5834205/Want-to-live-in-an-eco-town-It-will-cost-you-13000-to-park-there.html

And for further [humerous] insanity, I give you:

http://web.me.com/sinfonia1/Clamour_Of_The_Times/Clamour_Of_The_Times/Entries/2009/7/15_Mr_Lemuel_Gulliver_Visits_Milibandia.html

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The world runs on oil, period. No other substance can compete when it comes to energy density, flexibility, ease of handling, ease of transportation. If oil didn’t exist we would have to invent it.”

56 years after it was decided it was needed, the Bedford Bypass is nearing completion. The last single carriageway length of it.We have the most photogenic mayor though, always being photographed doing nothing

And thus demand for housing there will be nil..... What about visitors? Bet house owners will just park in the road or dig up their front lawns.

I wonder if you could argue it discriminates against the physically disabled as they need to be able to park close to home so therefore they are excluded automatically from ever being able to live there or visit there.

Not at all, greenies are already clamouring to buy the houses.
In fact they could [apparently] build several dozen such towns, and fill them.
No doubt they will be equipped with their own windpower systems and combined heat-and-power.
As for disabled: Who cares about the sick/disabled anymore ?

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The world runs on oil, period. No other substance can compete when it comes to energy density, flexibility, ease of handling, ease of transportation. If oil didn’t exist we would have to invent it.”

56 years after it was decided it was needed, the Bedford Bypass is nearing completion. The last single carriageway length of it.We have the most photogenic mayor though, always being photographed doing nothing

sounds like it is win win to me. The eco people that don't like cars move into houses with no provision for cars, which leaves more houses for those who either have a car through necessity or choice

With towns becoming "pedestrianised" and speed limits within the parts you can drive-through at 20mph, I doubt that they will be of any use.

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The world runs on oil, period. No other substance can compete when it comes to energy density, flexibility, ease of handling, ease of transportation. If oil didn’t exist we would have to invent it.”

56 years after it was decided it was needed, the Bedford Bypass is nearing completion. The last single carriageway length of it.We have the most photogenic mayor though, always being photographed doing nothing

Actually, yeah, if all the people that believe in a car-free society move there (and the PT provision is as bad as rumours suggest) then the rest of the UK will be much improved!

And as an extra bonus - why increase the congestion on the mainland -there's quite a few uninhabited islands in the outer hebrides ( the origonal resident left many years ago) - build the green towns there ,fill them with the green gremlins( to live life as they would have us do ) and let the rest of us live our lives as we wish to .Sinple ,yay ?

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

If you want to see an eco town look at the eco housing they dumped on poole. It was built with a parking restriction in the whole thing. I didn't think concrete or filament lamps (as they have outside every door) were 'eco' either...

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Andrew.

There was a thing on R4 the other day saying they are permitted to be built to a lower CO2 standard than the upcoming standard for all other housing stock.

I think for "eco", read "cheapo".

They are planning to build one of these "Eco-Ghettos" down the road in Whitehill.

Now, the problem is. Whitehill is in the middle of nowhere, there is no rail service and it is really a "One road town". with at least 10 moiles in either direction before you are likly to find the least chance of large scale employment.

Without a car you are likly to be stuffed!

Unless they are also planning to build huge industrial estates along with the "eco-town" (Not very eco I imagine) then the only people who will be living in it 10 years down the line will be thousands of unemployed/unemployable people living on benefits!

Niiiice!

(Maybe thats the plan!!, after all a couple of years back they were threatening to put a Assylum seeker camp down there, needless to say the locals were outraged about that too. I suggested to one of the locals that if they wanted that particular problem to go away, all thery needed to do was elect a couple of BNP councilors. The plan was scrapped (without any BNP councilors), but I wonder if the word got round? . )

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"The road to a police state is paved with public safety legislation"

The suggestion has been made on another forum that these eco-towns will in practice become retirement villages, as it will be impractical for anyone who has to commute to work by car or motorbike to live there.

Some other discussion of the issue:

http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/forum/vie ... =1&t=23072

http://www.advanced-driving.co.uk/bb/vi ... f=1&t=2555

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

If towns without cars are what some people want then let them have them. No one is forcing car lovers to live there.

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

I am sure that (to begin with) they will be fine. The first residents will likly be better than averagly well off people with high ideals and nice IT type jobs that will allow them to tele-comute.

Where it will all start to go horribly wrong is when these IT types lose their jobs and find that, in order to make a living, they need to actually go somewhere in person and actually do something physically productive.

Even worse (especially if they DO end up being used by retired people) is the prospect that the pepole who end up living there may become ill and requre hospital out patient treatment. (I dont know about the other "Eco-Ghettos" but I would guess that the nearest DGH to whitehill is liky to be 20 miles away! and not on a direct route eitther)

Having done the "Chemo Run" myself when my dad was ill I have to conclude that making such trips on a bus is not possible! (And before anybody points out that there are those that do have to make such journeys on PT, I strongly suspect that those who do end up with a significantly poorer life expectancy compared to those with access to a private car)

20 years down the line I would imagine that either the "Car Free" aspects of the developments will have been abbandonned, or they will be like Easterhouse! (Or Both!)

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"The road to a police state is paved with public safety legislation"

A rather high proportion of us IT types are petrolheads

I would have better things to spend £65K on than parking spaces for cars worth half that at best, more cars and a house with a bigger garage for instance.

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Driving fast is for a particular time and place, I can do it I just only do it occasionally because I am a gentleman.
- James May

So what happens when the gas man needs to come and service your boiler (or rather, the wind man to tweak your turbines)?

Will the bin-men collect via hot air balloon?

Still, i am sure that there will be some special VIP lanes in case any politician wants to visit to promote such carbon neutral lifestyles

mb

Anyone who thinks that IT workers can telecommute is frankly off their rocker, or has never actually done an IT job.

Who do you think maintains the infrastructure necessary to allow telecommuting, and when it fails who gets called out at 3AM to fix the bloody thing? When that happens and you can't dial in (because the dial in service is broken) how do you think the worker gains access to the system to fix it.

Having a driving licence and a car is pretty much a requirement for any IT job beyond pleb-level 9-5 helpdesk work.

That'd be me But I am just the remote hands and eyes as far as tptb are concerned

Sorry, did you say hot air balloon?

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Driving fast is for a particular time and place, I can do it I just only do it occasionally because I am a gentleman.
- James May