#23

All of this chat is Moot as by 2030 all cars will self drive anyway, and go either exactly at the speed limit or some cloud controlled variant of the speed limit.

I like to annoy people by telling them their children won’t need to learn how to drive anymore than they need to learn how to ask for an Uber today.

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#24

A lot of drivers don’t pay enough attention as it is. Making it so they don’t even need to monitor their speed probably isn’t going to improve things.

#25

I often think this. We live in a town that’s easy to walk/bike round. My kids are under 5.in 12 years it’s quite likely we’ll have some form of self driving cars around. They’ll likely either use them or uber, if they don’t cycle everywhere anyway (we’re very bikey). Hoping to save a fortune not having to buy them driving lessons!

#26

Yes it will. I mean, there are lots of stats looking at how many lives this will save already.

By removing the need for enforcement it’ll also make urban 20mph areas much more pleasant places to be a pedestrian or cyclist, which will have a significant benefit in terms of health, social cohesion, local businesses etc.

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#27

I think the point we are all ignoring here is that there are too many cars, I propose a situation where someone requires a permit to have a car which is leased via government scheme. Permit is only granted once proof of need is provided.

No more roads filled with people driving 10mins up the road. HERE HERE!

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#29

Plan to stop clocks changing…good keep them as clocks I say. (Its early OK)

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#30

Its early in Unlucky time. Its late in Duck time, THIS MADNESS MUST STOP

#31

EU to introduce law that everyone adopts Swatch Internet time

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#32

Wish they’d increase (at least some) motorways to 80mph

#33

SCT - standard cuckoo time

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#34

Fully agree, it would be fantastic for wheelchair users to be stranded or forced to take extremely steep routes or pass over unsuitable terrain to get some places at a great physical toll to them/the person assisting them.

I’m so fucking sick of arguments about how evil cars/Uber etc are without anyone even vaguely thinking about the impact on people with disabilities.

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#35

You’re probably right, just have visions of idiots paying even less attention to the road than normal, driving at the limit when it’s not appropriate, that sort of thing.

I’m mostly on board with it, never speed in town and usually can’t even be arsed to go faster than trucks on the motorway. There are far too many roads out in the sticks with 50 limits that should be 60 mind you.
Still feels a bit off for the EU to be restricting people’s freedom of movement (heh) like this though…

#36

Just dropping in to say widescale rollout of self-driving cars will never happen. Liability will fall on the industry which will ensure that.

Might see them zipping about full of lazy bastards in Canary wharf or something though.

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#37

I think you can read it as implied that he’s referring to people who are able to make the journey?

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#38
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#39

In order to get the Scottish Greens to vote for (and thus pass) their recent budget, the Scottish Government agreed to introduce a workplace carpark levy in the future.

Important to note that this England (introduced by Labour) has had one since the 2000s, it was not repealed by subsequent Conservative administrations, and is entirely discretionary on the part of local authorities. I don’t think too many use it - Nottingham is the poster child, where I believe the revenues have gone some way to fund tram expansions.

The response from Edinburgh politicians of all shades has been, well, what you’d expect - screaming bloody murder. It’s a “parking tax”. No acknowledgement that the city has awful congestion and disgusting air quality. No acknowledgement that the charge falls on the employer, and that passing it on to employees is entirely down to the employer and not the Council. Suddenly Conservative councillors are the champions of those on low incomes, despite people on low incomes being much more likely to take public transport.

Its so deeply frustrating and why we’re all essentially dying in a toxic soup.

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#40

I don’t think so. Even if it’s the case, disabilities need to stop being ‘implied’ as exceptions to the rule after the fact when stating absolutes.

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#41

I have several thoughts on this.

Cars massively degrade the public realm, and make it harder for everyone to get around on short journeys. They require dedicated physical infrastructure, both in terms of things like car parks and big roads, but also in terms of things like grade separations, drop kerbs, confined crossing points for pedestrians etc. All of these things have a massive impact on the built environment, and how accessible it is. Cars also damage their own infrastructure pretty much constantly, which requires huge resources to repair. Removing the bulk of cars would allow a complete re-imagining of how we use our space, and free up money to better maintain it. This would benefit everyone, but would also make it far easier for a lot of people with mobility disabilities to move around on short journeys.

I also think this is an argument used in bad faith by a lot of people to maintain the status quo, which I think is ultimately very damaging for disabled people in a lot of ways. Our broad societal reliance on cars means that homes are often located far from services - particularly cheaper homes, and as disabled people are statistically more likely to be on lower incomes, that I’m fairly sure impacts on them more. Again, moving away from cars as a dominant form of transport would allow us to re-assess how we do these things.

I guess also fundamentally nobody says “ban all cars” in a vacuum of thought. I favour a massive expansion in public transport - primarily light rail, which is fast, comfortable and accessible these days, but also buses. I’ve said this before on here, but its literally only a lack of imagination that holds us back in this. We apparently find it easier to dig giant tunnels under London than we do to build trains that run on existing streets. It speaks of a paucity of ambition more than anything. We can do better.

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#42

Vehemently disagree with this.

Automation is going to come to all aspects of life, and especially cars when you can still give mobility to everyone in electric cars but with a fraction of the human cost

#43

The car park tax is a fucking awesome idea, but definitely will hit those commuting from new build areas and schemes outside of the fast railway and bus networks.