Tags for Forum Posts: traffic, wightman bridge closure
Traffic has actually been decreasing. As has vehicle ownership.
GS: "you should maybe rethink your living choices"
Actually it is car drivers who need to rethink their living choices. If you want the freedom to drive any distance at any time of day or night, really the countryside is the best place for you. Private motor vehicles are not a sustainable mode for densely populated urban areas, they reduce the effectiveness of public transport, discourage more sustainable modes such as walking and cycling, and impact the health of residents (in turn causing a massive burden on the NHS).
Pat, I also drive and fully recognise the social utility that private motor vehicles provide. It's easy to characterise the argument as between the self-righteous and the self-indulgent (e.g. those whose predominant mode is cycling versus those using private motor vehicles for discretionary journeys).
We all need to recognise that radical measures are needed in order to meet pollution level targets and counter all the other the negative health and economic impacts when cities grind to a halt. Radical measures to discourage the use of cars and encourage more sustainable alternatives.
GS, choosing to live somewhere doesn't mean that you automatically wiave the right to have any say on how that place is run. Quite the opposite. I supported the campaign to keep Whiteman closed and spoke to many people gathering signatures. Some were opposed, most weren't. Either way they have a right to their view, and so do I. I wont be taking you up on your invitation to rethink my living choices. Something that has changed since I moved here is the understanding of the effects of nitrogen dioxide. According to results of the HCG study not only did the N02 levels decrease on ladder roads since a year ago but they also decreased on Turnpike lane by around 24%. What the Living Whitman campaign has done is to bring these issues to people's attention, to show that local residents care about such issues, and to give them more say in the way that traffic is managed in the local area. Far from being selfish this has the potential to benefit everybody. Who knows, it might even benefit you!
I have mixed feelings about this. I often visit my brother, who can't see, and is on the other side of Wightman Road. If I only need to go over to do stuff, I can go on the bike and it is indeed pleasant cycling along an empty road (especially after the climb up there). However, if we need to go somewhere with the car (as was the case the other day) it can, at the moment, take me up to 40 minutes to get home – usually a 15 min journey max. This applies whichever route I take. I usually time the journey there for early afternoon or mid morning when there's not so much traffic.
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