fastpedaller wrote:.......... If the governments of the World were seriously tackling pollution they'd insist we all rode bikes! It's all about selling new product
And there lies the problem,the whole economic structure we as a global socierty have built for ourselves is selling stuff,but it has to be the newest stuff,the latest thing,the hook by which the marketeers make monetary profit.
Selling any old crap is the norm and with vehicles bigger crap is better crap,has become a covert mantra,the number of SUV/4×4/crewcab 4×4 pickups I see on UK roads borders on the ridiculous.If you check out the fuel economy figures of these vehicles it's apparent they're fuel guzzling monsters.
It's all so much fashion at the expense of society's health and wellbeing,add to that the need for a car due to the lack of any sort of joined up public transport system and people are forced to drive,whch is a self defeating policy from an environmental POV and is rapidly becoming utterly ridiculous prospect at certain times of day.
Cycling anywhere is a percieved nightmare of unsafe practice to the uninitiated because of the car's dominance.
The freedom vehicle that was the car has become a ball and chain due to the total reliance of it for the vast majority of the populous.