Safe Speed Forums

There is a very large sales/distribution business about 12 miles from me.
It employs several hundred people, many agency staff.
Its policy is that they use public transport to get there.
So for me to work there would cost me £3.50 return from village to town. Then another £7.00 return from town to near the business. Then walk a half mile. And take much more than an hour. To drive there takes 25 minutes. The wage is £6.00/Hr.Not surprisingly the majority drive, and park somewhere else on the industrial estate. LOADS of parked cars. Quite apart from that, the buses stop at 2400z...and the job is rotating 10-hour shifts.
And you cannot pick-and-pack from home.
You also cannot install plumbing from home.

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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

So you accept that a cylist is a part of the traffic and therefore contributes to congestion!

Er, we were talking about congestion in well connected towns and cities.

Er, no.

Just to add, once again I notice that Weepy avoided ALL of the unpalatable parts of my reply that he could not provide an answer to, choosing only to focus on the cyclist part. Just for your reference Weepy, you have now dodged the following issues:
Viable alternatives to charging
Improved Public transport

You have also not provided any independant evidence that congestion charging works, instead you insist on posting links to TFL who have a vested interest in showing that C-Charging works. Show me a link that is not from TFL and I might show you a limited amount of respect.

Then your lack of intelligence really knows no bounds - goodnight

Well, I haven't, but anyways:



What, like asking people politely not to drive their cars into town if they have a viable alternative?



Buses won't improve much if you flood the road with more and more cars.



TFL, run by Boris Johnson?

TFL is about the only organisation monitoring traffic levels in london at the detail required to produce these figures. Have you got any?

And were you the guy that posted a link to the ABD ?

Nope

Since we're being libellious:

Weren't you the guy that posted the link to the BNP


Edited to follow Weepej's childish mudslinging

Or, not charging (congestion is self regulating, folks will use other options when it gets bad enough)
Or, sorting out the mismanaged phasing of traffic lights, road works, and needlessly restricted roads/bottlenecks.
Why the false dichotomy?

Why are you so anti-driving weepej? Does it not make you wonder why your views are shared by a tiny minority of the population?

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Views expressed are personal opinions and are not necessarily shared by the Safe Speed campaign

His views are only minority views at this point in time.
We have a whole generation growing-up that has been, and is being, indoctrinated in anti-anything-someone-thinks-is-bad-for-something.
Even NURSERY schools have a "curriculum" to follow.

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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

Can I just say, living in the UK’s second largest city, my experience of buses is absolutely disgusting!

Issues of inconvenience or expense aside, the scum which populates buses is enough to make me vomit although the once I went on a local service into town and found someone beat me to it.

I didn’t know boarding a bus meant laws don’t exist, the smell of pot permeating throughout. The upstairs is like a no-go area unless you want to get mugged or heckled. I think there’s some unwritten rule whereby you are allowed to do anything you like towards the back from playing loud music and drinking to giving someone a hand job. I would rather walk to work on broken glass barefoot than use a Midland Red.

In all honesty, I wouldn’t use a bus if they were free but maybe they’re different in London. I’m happy not to find out. If you are blessed with good health I think cycling is the way to go but I don't use mine to work in the dark and dangerous winter months.

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

And if you are "blessed" with poor health public transport is not the way to go !

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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

This is all well known: there's some research out there that shows that car ownership makes you happy.

Not surprising really, given the above.

I think it must depend on how you value your time. To me half an hour driving to town is thirty minutes taken out of my life. Thirty minutes of stress and unhappiness when my every action is constrained by someone else - either stupid traffic planners or incompetent drivers. On the other hand the same journey by train - 15 minutes walk at each end and thirty minutes on the train - is time well spent. The half hour walk has to be done sometime during the day for the sake of my health and is more usefully done that way than on a treadmill in the gym. The half hour on the train can be spent reading the newspaper, doing some work, talking to or even sleeping. No contest - especially when the train journey costs me £2.75 compared with £7.50 for the car.

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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

Not passively inhaling pot, not looking at puke and empty beer cans and bottles rolling across the floor, not looking at graffiti and vulgar messages dawbed on the windows, not being forced to listen to crap from a juvenile Neanderthal and I don't want to see teenagers playing tonsil tennis thank you very much!

Just call me old fashioned...

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

Yea, traveling first class is great isnt it!

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

A driver can catch up on news, or listen to an audiobook, or participate in a meeting (yes those can be done on a train too, the point being there's no real difference).


Then there's the waiting for the train - if it arrives. Then there are the inevitable train delays.


I watch a film. Again, radio/audiobooks is a good option; I've seen people read books when on treadmills.


That's an absolute no go for me; I get motion sickness.


Sleeping when people are shouting at each other is a bit tricky. If you actually do manage it you risk missing your stop

I'm not saying trains are a bad thing, there just not good for everyone.

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Views expressed are personal opinions and are not necessarily shared by the Safe Speed campaign

I have recently considered the train for my last trip south but having just got off my swine flu and bronchitis sick bed it didn't sound good to start with. Then the times of trains and the 3 miles to the train station and then the train to the main depot all had problems and then all the very cold waiting about is hardly inviting.
The lack of a diner carriage was another issue on such a long journey and then the desire for a laptop plug! Probably more important than a drink as I can carry a bottle at least. But once arrived with all the paperwork required for the meeting then what and what if the plans have to change (as they did) you get left high and dry. If you haven't broguht an open ticket then you loose the ticket and have to buy another.
If I had driven to the local station there is the worry about your car left nearby for days.
The fact that I had to carry everything and there would have been a lot to carry before the overnight back, and it all ended up being nearly 2 weeks so just as well I decided to drive.

The train can work, but it only has a narrow margin of usefulness.
I did have a wonderful train ride once from Rome to Milan and the dining car was excellent.
I have also take an extremely long 2 day train ride from the Algarve to London via Paris, after sailing down to the Algarve to drop off a catamaran - that was interesting !

Cycling is not all that safe, I have had some bad accidents the worse that broke my face in 6 places ... nasty ... however I d still like cycling but I prefer to do so for enjoyment now than for work. I am still happy to cycle in London but the practical aspects make it very hard. A hire bike might be interesting perhaps from time to time. Parking looks a lot harder these days too which is a shame.

When I drive and drove into central London I always picked a time after the main rush hour or occasionally before. Now there are two main rush hours with the time constraints of the Con Charge.
When will they comprehend that traffic likes to flow and the better it can, the better efficiency all round.

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Safe Speed for Intelligent Road Safety through proper research, experience & guidance.

....and that (thankfully brief) reply illustrates why I no longer take any notice of your posts. It would have seemed more reasonable to me to accept that all road users contribute something to congestion.

Best wishes all,
Dave.

Does you car have a laptop plug and can you use it when driving?


You have to leave your car at your destination. AFAIAC my car is a lot safer parked at the village station than in the inner city.

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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