| Topic: | Re Maggie Dodge | |
| Posted by: | Richard Cathcart | |
| Date/Time: | 28/06/22 18:18:00 |
| MD: "Too many cars, so let’s make the problem worse by taking away road space , it won’t solve the problem, but it will make life difficult and we can blame the motorists. Disregard why they are on the roads, let’s just say they’re all making unnecessary journeys. Didn’t really stop those pesky drivers, well let’s put up parking charges, remove parking spaces. Fine them endlessly. Oh that’s not working. Maybe they really do need to be on the road. Let’s close another road anyway." RC: No sane person, no matter how pro-cycling etc, advocates getting rid of cars entirely. But you have to admit that as well as those many drivers who have to use their vehicles, there are also many more who do not i.e. they are simply lazy, unimaginitive or selfish. And here's the thing: if you can deter this latter group, whether by "carrot" (eg improved public transport) or "stick" (eg parking restrictions), then this doesn't just benefit the rest of us by less pollution etc, but it also benefits the essential drivers too, since there will be fewer vehicles on the roads overall, leading to less congestion and delay for them as well. For as Tom Pike pointed out the other day, for all that some motorists may get extra irritated while stuck in traffic to see cyclists weaving in and out the queue, fact is, each cyclist is one tin box fewer ahead of them adding to their delay. And we all, cyclists and motorists alike, surely need to see the bigger picture, rather than obsessing over individual aspects which might not command our absolute approval instantly. |