MAD CARS DISEASE (or CAR-MAGEDDON)

Is it not very strange that, despite all the massive debates and hand-wringing about “saving the planet”, nobody is pointing fingers at the role of sprawl and its prime facilitator, motor vehicles by the mega-million..?  

SOME FUN-FACTS ABOUT THE OVER-SIZED, OVER-POWERED, OVER-ENGINEERED, OVER-SEXED STATUS-SYMBOLS WHICH WE ALL LOVE & ENJOY….

Cars spend 96% of their lives resting idly or rusting untidily by roadsides, or on those dreary tarmac fields called “carparks” located next to workplaces, train stations or supermarkets.  Others sit on private driveways and garages, or squat on unsightly concrete slabs that have buried “front gardens” of neat lawns and carefully-tended flower-beds.

Cars spend just 4% of their lives actually in motion – or should I say with the engine running, since much of that 4% is spent stuck in traffic, or at stop-lights, or driving around searching for a parking place..!

Cars are getting fatter – best-selling cars have become almost 20% ‘fatter’ in the 20 years to 2018.  Britain’s best selling car – the Ford Fiesta – is 6ft 5in wide today, compared to 5ft 10in back in 1998.  the Vauxhall Astra from 6ft 1in to 6ft 7in. The Nissan Micra has grown the most, from 5ft 3in to 6ft 5in.

By area, about 30% of our cities are the exclusive domain of motor vehicles.  The % is even higher, sometimes as much as 50%, in N. America.

Every year more and more of England’s storied “Green and Pleasant Land” is buried beneath bricks and tarmac – elevating air temperatures, thus intensifying MMCC.   TV weather reports in the UK  show that London is usually about 2/3 deg Centigrade warmer than the next warmest place in the country.

ROAD-RAGE – cars cause us to be AGGRESSIVE and ANGRY towards strangers

NOISE & DISRUPTION – revving-up, loud exhausts, screeching tyres, blaring horns, door slamming, collisions…!

AIR POLLUTION – cars poison the air with noxious exhaust fumes, over-heated brake and clutch linings, etc..

SOIL and WATER POLLUTION – tyre dust, oil spills, battery acid, rust particles, and other detritus

OVER-CONSUMPTION OF RESOURCES

CAR-CINOGENIC CONSEQUENCES FOR THE HEALTH SERVICES

ROAD DEATHS – 1.25 million people are KILLED on roads every year, about half of which are “vulnerable road users” (pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists).  Road accidents are the leading cause of DEATH between 15 and 29 years.

INJURIES – up to 50 million people suffer serious injuries, many are DISABLED for life.

Sickness and shortened lifespans caused by air pollution.

LACK of EXERCISE due to driving instead of walking exacerbates the OBESITY crisis.

Car-free communities would have much healthier health services….

SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES 

WILDLIFE and PET SLAUGHTER – countless millions of wildlife and domestic pets are killed by vehicles

CONSTANT DANGER posed by road traffic prevents kids playing in the street as they once did

THE BLOODY SCHOOL-RUN..!

CONSPICUOUS SYMBOLS OF WEALTH, CARS ARE DIVISIVE – showing the haves from the have-nots..!

TRAFFIC CONGESTION causes ANGER, ANNOYANCE, FRUSUTRATION, and ROAD RAGE

SCRAPES, SCRATCHES, and DENTS that mysteriously appear whilst parked.

VANDALISM, BREAK-INS and CAR THEFT

HI-JACKING with VIOLENCE often ending in death (as in S. Africa)

MASS CAR-BURNINGS (as in Paris)

Cars & Sprawl are symbiotic – get rid of either and you get rid of both

The negative aspects of car ownership far outweighs the benefits. Financial stress and anxiety due to the ever-increasing cost of car ownership, maintenance & repairs, insurance, parking fees, traffic fines, congestion charges, etc. And don’t forget, as we tend to do, that the biggest car cost of all is DEPRECIATION.

What about the mental stress caused by the anger and pent-up hatred we direct at “bad drivers”..? Frustration and anger can escalate to boiling point and sometimes deadly violence of “ROAD-RAGE”.   Anyway, I am one of the 93% who consider themselves to be a “better than average” driver…….SO GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY WAY, YOU IDIOT..!

Cars may be a great invention, but they are a greater mistake and, deep down, I think we all know it…

Why, despite all the hullaballoo over the environment, has nobody in the e/v movement seriously suggested that we get rid of cars..?  Or, if not all of them, at least MOST of them?  Is it because “cars create jobs”?  Or is it simply that they cannot imagine towns and cities without cars?

Does a City without cars exist..?

In “Car-Free Cities”*, Crawford talks-up Venice as a car-free city, but Venice is not really car-free because it has several giant (and expensive) car-parks.  A true car-free city would make no provision for cars at all, and visitors would have to arrive by some form of public transport, either train/tramway, or PRT pod.

*”The first part of the book labours over a far-fetched comparison between Venice and Los Angeles. As fascinating as it is to visit, Venice has not been economically viable for anything but tourism for many decades.  In the second part, the author introduces a new `urban model’, based on flower-like shapes, totally disconnected from any geographical or social reality. Clearly, a lot of thought has been awarded to this physical model as some elements are presented in excruciating details. Sadly, an ounce of common sense is sufficient to make the whole scheme fall to pieces. The notions of costs or implementation in fact do not seem to cross the author’s mind whatsoever.”   Amazon reviewer