Safe Speed Forums

Article in the Daily Telegraph

Link



And it's not about money?

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Useless laws weaken necessary laws.

Just think of the havoc we could unleash if we all said "bollocks to the car, let's use public transport for a month".

This country would be on it's knees long before the month ever came to an end, and the scamerati would be worrying deeply about how to earn their money.

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What makes you think I'm drunk officer, have I got a fat bird with me?

So try it. I'm game.

It's funny I was thinking the same thing when I read that. I just imagined the whole country turning up at railway stations and queues as far as the eye could see.



So would I be, the problem is getting the rest of the country to do the same.

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Useless laws weaken necessary laws.

Believe me Ru88ell, nothing would give me greater pleasure than to be remembered in history as the man that f*cked the UK for a month over proving a point.
No doubt NCIS would be waiting outside my door again every day as I would (once again) be regarded as a known subversive, photographing me wherever I go and also photographing whoever I talk to and making sure their name is flagged as being a known associate.
Earning that sort of treatment does have it's plus side though, for starters you never get troubled by the police because they are under strict instructions to leave you alone

To organize something like that requires a degree of co-operation & willpower, but there is too much apathy for it to be successful.

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What makes you think I'm drunk officer, have I got a fat bird with me?

I wouldn't give it even one week - it would probably melt down on the first day even.
On the very first morning you'd see queues hundreds deep at each and every bus stop - and queues stretching around several blocks at every train station. And the vast majority of the workforce would not make it into work at all - because there would not be nearly enough buses and trains to carry them all.

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Only when ideology, prejudice and dogma are set aside does the truth emerge - Kepler

Now if we could just persuade a union like RMT to have a sympathy go slow/work to rule on day one, something like to demonstarate to HMG that the public transport policy is useless ,,well then .....................

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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

Well yes, but if there were no cars, over the years people would have made very different decisions as to where to live and work.

The country didn't fall over in the days before cars, or when only a tiny minority had them.

Therefore this scenario isn't realistic as an indictment of public transport provision.

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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

But we have had cars, so people haven't made those very different decisions.
It's not a case of how things might have been, but rather how things are.



That was then. Take away cars now and the country would fall over pretty quickly.

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Only when ideology, prejudice and dogma are set aside does the truth emerge - Kepler

No but take a look at a map from the pre 1900's and see how many tramlines there were, in my area there was a tram running on the route of virtually every modern day main (A and B class) road.

And this was for a much smaller and more densely distributed population.

And don't forget the thousands of missing branch lines!

I have posted this on my BBC local radio morning programme for 4.4.06 between 9am and 1pm...

As a regular car driver, I am under constant 'attack' from a Government that detests the motor car and is trying to nanny it into obsolescence with speed cameras, 'traffic calming measures' and tax penalties for not buying a boring, underpowered Eurobox. I am also continually assaulted with tales of Global Disaster as a direct result of my use of my vehicle and I have had enough.

I would like to propose a National 'Don't use your car' month, to see what the effect is on CO2 in the UK atmosphere, the difference in injuries/fatalities in transit of the populace and the effect on what's left of British Industry.
All journeys would be undertaken on foot, bicycle or public transport and the results collated and published by the Icelandic government (to ensure a 'fair test').

I would also lay a grand with Ladbroke's that the Country would fall over in less than four days...What think you?


You can listen live via the site at

http://www.bbc.co.uk/essex/index.shtml

Should be interesting...

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Aquila



Licat volare si super tergum aquila volat...

As an ex-daily commuter on the WAGN railway into London, go-slow and strike days have the effect of making the trains slightly more bearable (bizarrely). Lots of people must take days off or work at home on those days.

Secondly, the unions would have to be exhorted NOT to have ANY action on those days - otherwise the union action would be used as the excuse for the failures.

I can't see a month working, apathy being what it is within a couple of days folk would use the car because they were lazy. A national non-car couple of days would be good though. It might even make me get my pushbike out and try the 12 miles cross country to work (as opposed to the 18 miles by motorway and A-roads).

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COAST Not just somewhere to keep a beach.

A young loner on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent, the helpless, the powerless, in a world of criminals who operate above the law.

I have to say I'm with Pete317 on this one. Outside of the major cities, no-one working shifts or odd times would be able to commute - last time I checked there weren't any busses running round here that could get someone to work who was on earlies. The royal mail would grind to a halt as would every single warehouse and large factory in the country, most of the logisitcs companies and any business in a rural area.

PeterE when there were fewer cars on the road the UK was a very different place. The majority of women stayed at home and people generally worked closer to their homes (hence mill and mine terraces). Public transport infrastructure has seriously diminished in that time too so your argument isn't realistic because of chance of circumstances.

The truth is, the majority of people who work for a living need some form of personal transportation. Me, I'd love to be able to cycle to work, but at 25 miles each way it'd take me longer to get there and back than I would spend at work.

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Science won over religion when they started installing lightning rods on churches.