Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
How To Cut Road Traffic By Half.
We're all (pretty much ) agreed that we need to cut down on private car usage.
But how ? It's just too tempting to use the car to nip down to Sainsbury's, and I've been known to drive to Turnpike Lane tube " in case it's raining when I get back ".
I'm instinctively against regulating people's behaviour by statute and hate the way our masters try to modify social behaviour by charging more and more for it ( just keeping this side of losing tax revenue by actually persuading people to give up the antisocial habit ).
How about rationing fuel (petrol/diesel )? Not by price, but by issuing smart cards that allow the purchase of only so much fuel per year.
Set the ration to half what an average driver uses per year (say enough for 4000 miles per year ). Then private car usage would automatically fall by half, gas guzzlers would be able to travel less far and owners of fuel-efficient cars and people driving efficiently would benefit from having more annual miles available.
Then I have a choice - I can take the bus to Sainsbury's; I can take an umbrella to the tube; and thereby save my petrol allowance for journeys where I really need the car. But it's still MY CHOICE as to how I use my allowance. There would probably need to be flexibility in the actual amount of the ration to allow for disabled people and others who need to use their cars more than the average, but if the ration were tied into the national ID card scheme (which is going to come - have no doubt about that ) then this could easily be done and would stop people selling their ration card.
Brilliant idea or what ?
"What" probably :-)
But how ? It's just too tempting to use the car to nip down to Sainsbury's, and I've been known to drive to Turnpike Lane tube " in case it's raining when I get back ".
I'm instinctively against regulating people's behaviour by statute and hate the way our masters try to modify social behaviour by charging more and more for it ( just keeping this side of losing tax revenue by actually persuading people to give up the antisocial habit ).
How about rationing fuel (petrol/diesel )? Not by price, but by issuing smart cards that allow the purchase of only so much fuel per year.
Set the ration to half what an average driver uses per year (say enough for 4000 miles per year ). Then private car usage would automatically fall by half, gas guzzlers would be able to travel less far and owners of fuel-efficient cars and people driving efficiently would benefit from having more annual miles available.
Then I have a choice - I can take the bus to Sainsbury's; I can take an umbrella to the tube; and thereby save my petrol allowance for journeys where I really need the car. But it's still MY CHOICE as to how I use my allowance. There would probably need to be flexibility in the actual amount of the ration to allow for disabled people and others who need to use their cars more than the average, but if the ration were tied into the national ID card scheme (which is going to come - have no doubt about that ) then this could easily be done and would stop people selling their ration card.
Brilliant idea or what ?
"What" probably :-)
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Birdy_Too on
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The son of Kyoto is later this year in Copenhagen so hopefully the new US administration will join the rest of the world in trying to combat climate change.
Until there is a cheaper more comprehensive public transport network nationally you will not see people use their cars less. You cannot tell people to stop using their vehicles unless an attractive, affordable option is there for them to use. Most of the country is serviced by poor and expensive public transport – people have little choice. We are lucky here and sometimes forget that others are not service the way we are.
New cars will (and may be already) be fitted with systems enabling to monitor mileage; the more you drive the more you pay. The current system of highway taxation is unfair and not based on usage, mileage or emissions.
What’s the point of having a pricing policy based on the size of vehicle when a 3 litre vehicle could be less damaging than a 1.2 car as that’s is used every day?
It’s time people were accountable for the miles as well as the car they drive.
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Permalink Reply by John D on
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John M
I have never seen a traffic jam on Hampden
I said " I have been known" - I don't make a habit of it.
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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Fair enough... I get traffic jams on Lausanne regularly in the morning. People come across from West Green Rd, straight ahead past the Queen's head, around the back of the common and left hand turn up Lausanne. I thought Hampden might get them in the evening but I guess it's easier to get onto Willougby than it is to get onto Wightman.
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Permalink Reply by Andrew on
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You could always do something along the lines of what they did in Beijing before the Olympics and just split all the cars in two (by numberplate) and have alternate days where the 'odd' number cars drive and alternate days where the 'even' number cars drive. Should reduce the traffic every day by 50%. (of course the really well off would just get personalised number plates that were all letters)
And if you have to drive to work (and some people do) then you'd just work half as hard and feel happier (but poorer) (but who'd swap their health for money anyway eh?).
It would also mean you'd have to plot your driving more carefully, which would probably make you reduce your journeys or at least make them more efficient.
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Nice idea Richard, but again you're taking choice away from me. And it would have to be policed.
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All this regulation is daft. Stop telling people what they can and can't do, if you do it for too long, no one can think for themselves any more and then we are in trouble.
It's probably a generational thing too, and if we can get the education right now that is how we change the world... (cue lots of hippy music and swirling flowers)
People should be told why they should do stuff and not what they should do.
what are the really key things about global warming, i know there are some experts out there, what would make the biggest single difference?
fewer cars?
lights off?
not cutting down rain forests?
recycling our rubbish?
Not flying?
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If common boundaries of decency (called laws in moist countries) weren’t set you’d have chaos. Legislation needs to be constantly addressed depending on social habits.
Road building isn’t the answer (as Jeremy “I’m a ****” Clarkson would say) as has been proved with the M6 toll road.
Unfortunately we cannot dunk witches anymore to see if they sink, which is a shame.
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Permalink Reply by matt on
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Birdy, Moist countries (tropics) are the mo(i)st chaotic. :)
Andrew, deforestation and energy intensive industries like smelting/concrete factories and coal power stations are the worst for CC
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Permalink Reply by Danzigger on
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Unfortunately we don't have the luxury of waiting for a generation of enlightened citizens to grow up and start running the world in a sustainable way. If we don't tell people what to do, they'll continue to do whatever they damn well please regardless of the consequences.
I doubt if there is anyone in the developed world who doesn't know why they should try and reduce their consumption of fossil fuels/ recycle more/ not cut down rain forests etc., but people aren't acting on this knowledge.
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I think there is a fair amount of education out there already (certainly in schools) as to why CC is happening and how we impact but, yes only some people understand it. The best way forward is a combination of financial incentives and legislation. Most governments are already taking this approach anyway.
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Only yesterday Fred came home from school telling me how I should look after planet otherwise we will get flooded out by water via a big hole in the sky - it's my genes!
Great to hear him talking about it though.
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He's basically correct in that one of the weather changes is more unpredictable rainfall which can mean anything from;
* very heavy downpours leading to flooding
* more erratic rainfall patterns leading to drought for some areas
* ice melt from glaciers meaning less water is stored for slow release
* ice melt from polar icecaps meaning rising sea levels. Combine this with the perfect storm (literally) where we have a hide tide & high winds and you get a surge, which is why London is going to spend billions on increasing the height of the walls along the Thames. They've just announced that they aren't for now going to spend £20b on a new Barrier (credit crunch).
Basically the points above mean more moisture up there in the atmosphere moving around the globe (instead of being stored in frozen form) which has created these more violent weather patterns. Organisations within farming and city water utilities are taking this all very seriously. Most of us only realise this when some disaster reaches the news. But then we forget the last flood because our memories are short (unless it was our house flooded for the umptenth time).
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