Blow Dog

I have to agree though, there are FAR too many people on the road today.
I took a drive up to the M1 yesterday from London to Leicester at about 4pm. I never got over 60 MPH in 21 junctions, it was completely choco-block.

Cem

robski

On this mornings news.

The AA have said that the greater than inflation price rises in fuel will need to be SUSTAINED to reduce the number of people on the roads.

And that only the poorest drivers are struggling to pay the bills.

If they aint ******** tony blair I dont know who is.

robski

AWD

... so much for representing the public.

What - so they are saying that only the poorest drivers are struggling to pay bills so they should increase petrol costs until everyone struggles?

That makes sense. NOT!

Andy-D

I just hope this isn't an accurate quote from the AA. All they seem to be intersted in these days is flogging Insurance and loans. I think they need reminding what 'AA' stands for and who they are supposed to be representing. I am a member but comments like this make me think about changing to some other organisation.

Andy-D

sunilp

....so why didnt you help the cause and take a goddam train u muppet?

AllanB

Half the traffic is mums in thier huge Toyota Landcrushers/ Jeeps/ Fronteres andd other assorted mobiles houses taking little Timmy 500 yard up the road to school cause they are so lazy !!

Don't kids these days have legs ??


AllanB

AWD

AllanB

I doubt that the mums were affecting the M1 (and Blow Dog) yesterday though...

Blow Dog

My proposal:

A) Ensure buses and coaches run on a fuel far more efficient than diesel. I once heard that a bus puts out more pollution than 29 cars put together. Also, when was the last time you saw a bus being driven efficiently and effectively? They all seem to think that they are McRae on the streets of London.

B) Same goes for taxi's.

C) Make sure the rich mother with the 4.2 ltr V8 off road petrol guzzler is forced to use a 2.0ltr (frankly, they wouldnt know the difference, so why are they driving cars that are doing 10 to the gallon thru town?)

D) Fit air-con to all london underground trains. This is a disgrace as it stands and I am positive that there MUST be some form of health and hygiene regulation that is being broken here.

E) Decommission vehicles that are simply not fit for the road. IE: The serious oil burners, like the type where it is simply not possible to sit behind them because of the **** being thrown out of their exhausts.

All sounds rather fascist, but its the only way.

Cem

Sunil, I fitted a Scoobysport system on to the train, but it didnt quite have the same sound.

Andy-D

It's the classic tale of wanting measures to be introduced to get 'other' road users off the road to clear it for ourselves.
It's certainly a thorny issue and one that is going to be very difficult to solve.

Better publice transport will help, inculding frequency, reliability and comfort (i.e. as mentioned air-con on tubes/buses). However, lots of people will always use thier car no matter how good the public transport is as it's 'door to door', safer, own space, music, temperature etc etc.

Seems like we carry on as we are choking the roads up with more traffic or we are forced off the road due to cost or law which will be a bummer. Driving in the south, especially within the M25, at a reasonable hour these days is very rarely a pleasure, no matter what car your in - shame really.

Andy-D

AWD

My view is that I might as well enjoy driving around now (despite petrol and insurance costs) as who knows whether it will be financially (or legally) viable in 10 to 15 years time. London (and the South) is getting more and more chocablock at all but the most extreme hours of night.

Geezer

WHat the AA actually said was that studies have showed that car usage does actually decrease with increase in fuel price.

For every 10% increase in fuel cost, car usage decreases by about 3%. The reason that car usage in the UK has risen in the last ten years is that the overall cost of motoring has decreased greatly, cancelling out the increase in fuel cost.

They propose that the price structuring is altered to avoid penalising various bits of the population. Road tax should be removed, or at least reduced to a very low level. This way, casual users will not be penalised.

The more you use your car, therefore, the more you pay.

It's a difficult one hits, because there is a real need to reduce car usage, but no realistic alternative at present. Which comes first, the chicken or the egg?

Greater fuel revenues to pay for better public transport, but are people priced out of using their cars before enough money can be raised to put a decent infrastructure in place?

I'm glad I don't have to work it all out!

Geezer

robski

Problem is that the increased taxes do NOT go anywhere near the public transport system, they go to other uses

robski

Chris L

If that is a direct quote from the AA then what are they playing at? We've got to get ourselves organised overhere. Governments pay lip service to public transport, but they do bugger all.

I've just come back from a week in Madrid - petrol prices are a little lower than the UK, but they've also got a great public transport system. There are loads of buses running late into the night. The underground is quick and cheap - around 50p for a journey anywhere in and around Madrid (and it's air-conditioned as well Cem). If you are feeling lazy, there are loads of taxis.

The service on the buses and tubes is pretty basic, but it is cheap and frequent - when we realise this over here, we might be able to do something about it. The prices charged on the buses and tubes in London are a disgrace - is it any wonder people stick to their cars?

Chris (climbing off my soap box)

Mr.Cookie

Well ive just been into a shell garage to fill up 49 litres of super and it seem they have a new policy, they give you an extra £10 back .

Simon

Dave T-S

Blowdog - change from the gear marked "2" to "3" or the higher ones and it will do more than 60 on motorways (doesn't sound so good though!!)