1st commute in a while

[Rossco8854]

[code][/code]

Today I took my partners car to work as our son was up bouncing from 3am! Found the whole rush hour driving an absolute pain in the ass. Took me the same time to get to work and was home 20 minutes later than usual!! Does anybody else find that if mor people rode bikes the world would be a better place?

[MikeF]

Absolutely agree. If more people rode bikes, especially for short journeys eg under 6miles, it would be easier to get around. Too many motor vehicles just clog the roads.

[Username]

Agree with both of the above. Many people are dam lazy. Reminds me of that scene from Little Britain where the police get in their car to drive next door.
You would think there would be some kind of restriction on obtaining a license to drive a car. The roads are beyond bursting point yet the government has done absolutely nothing to restrict the amount of people coming onto the roads. In fact their changes to motorcycle tests have exarcerbated the issue by discouraging motorcycling.
I think of the roads as being finite, they can only deal with so much traffic in the same way a glass can only hold so much water. When the glass is near full, you turn off the tap. What the government has done is allow the tap to keep flowing, possibly even faster than it already was and now the glass has overflowed. The result is a useless road netwrok for those in densely populated areas and the problem will only get worse.

[mjr]

Today I took my partners car to work as our son was up bouncing from 3am! Found the whole rush hour driving an absolute pain in the ass. Took me the same time to get to work and was home 20 minutes later than usual!! Does anybody else find that if mor people rode bikes the world would be a better place?

Yes, as I ride along accompanied by the progress wave of a so-called phantom jam in the opposite direction that I saw someone start by braking too hard... I wonder how many of those motorists are travelling less far than me and could easily cycle it in roughly the same time or less. Plus on the way today, I rode up to a cafe window counter without having to find a place to park and lock up... the only places you can do that with a car are big chain junk food drive throughs, which isn't going to delight anyone as much as a nice piece of cake!

You would think there would be some kind of restriction on obtaining a license to drive a car. The roads are beyond bursting point yet the government has done absolutely nothing to restrict the amount of people coming onto the roads. In fact their changes to motorcycle tests have exarcerbated the issue by discouraging motorcycling.

As the problem is arguably number of vehicles rather than number of potential drivers, would it be better to restrict vehicle licences, rather than driver licences? Maybe market pricing with a pollution-linked element, with access to fixed-fee licences for those with some good reason beyond commuting?

[gbnz]

Absolutely agree. If more people rode bikes, especially for short journeys eg under 6miles, it would be easier to get around. Too many motor vehicles just clog the roads.

But as my neighbour says;

1. There're too many car's on the road to commute by bicycle
2. If she commutes by bicycle she'll have to breath in the fumes from those cars
3. It takes too long to commute by bicycle

By the way my neighbours commute is 0.93 miles, with a 30' climb

On the positive side she has strong environmental belief's constantly lambasting evil farmers and the like for spraying chemicals (She even believes she was ill for a few days, because she saw a farmer spraying chemicals, in a field ).

What hope is there?

[mjr]

But as my neighbour says;

1. There're too many car's on the road to commute by bicycle
2. If she commutes by bicycle she'll have to breath in the fumes from those cars
3. It takes too long to commute by bicycle

By the way my neighbours commute is 0.93 miles, with a 30' climb

Any sort of space for cycling would deal with 1; 2 is mistaken because she's already breathing more fumes as a car user than a cyclist does; and 3 is mistaken because that's what, an average of about six minutes? The time required to care for and feed a car will make that seem like a rounding error!

On the positive side she has strong environmental belief's constantly lambasting evil farmers and the like for spraying chemicals (She even believes she was ill for a few days, because she saw a farmer spraying chemicals, in a field ).

What hope is there?

Try constantly lambasting evil drivers and the like for spraying pollution over everyone?

[MikeF]

By the way my neighbours commute is 0.93 miles, with a 30' climb

Phew. And it's along a road with everyone else travelling by car?

If so walking would be another alternative.

[gbnz]

If so walking would be another alternative.

Walking! Just think of the time it would take and all those fumes she'd breath in from all those cars. And I'm sure all those cyclists on the road alongside would make it seem too dangerous (Nb. I routinely pass her work place on bike and foot, at least twice a day).

[MikeF]

Silly me. Stationary cars travel at 0mph

[Username]

You would think there would be some kind of restriction on obtaining a license to drive a car. The roads are beyond bursting point yet the government has done absolutely nothing to restrict the amount of people coming onto the roads. In fact their changes to motorcycle tests have exarcerbated the issue by discouraging motorcycling.

As the problem is arguably number of vehicles rather than number of potential drivers, would it be better to restrict vehicle licences, rather than driver licences? Maybe market pricing with a pollution-linked element, with access to fixed-fee licences for those with some good reason beyond commuting?

Thats what I meant, just could have worded it better. One example would be you could only obtain a drivers license (for a car specifically) if you needed it for a trade, suffer certain disability, served in the army etc . If all you need is transport, just get a small to medium motorcycle.

I dont agree with pricing things with a pollution based element. If something is really that bad, it needs to be banned outright. Pricing things upwards is a form of prejudice against those with less money.

[david7591]

Absolutely agree. If more people rode bikes, especially for short journeys eg under 6miles, it would be easier to get around. Too many motor vehicles just clog the roads.

But as my neighbour says;

1. There're too many car's on the road to commute by bicycle
2. If she commutes by bicycle she'll have to breath in the fumes from those cars
3. It takes too long to commute by bicycle

By the way my neighbours commute is 0.93 miles, with a 30' climb

On the positive side she has strong environmental belief's constantly lambasting evil farmers and the like for spraying chemicals (She even believes she was ill for a few days, because she saw a farmer spraying chemicals, in a field ).

What hope is there?

That commute's not worth cycling. Walking would be best option.

[[XAP]Bob]

Absolutely agree. If more people rode bikes, especially for short journeys eg under 6miles, it would be easier to get around. Too many motor vehicles just clog the roads.

But as my neighbour says;

1. There're too many car's on the road to commute by bicycle
2. If she commutes by bicycle she'll have to breath in the fumes from those cars
3. It takes too long to commute by bicycle

By the way my neighbours commute is 0.93 miles, with a 30' climb

On the positive side she has strong environmental belief's constantly lambasting evil farmers and the like for spraying chemicals (She even believes she was ill for a few days, because she saw a farmer spraying chemicals, in a field ).

What hope is there?

That commute's not worth cycling. Walking would be best option.

Scooter is pretty attractive at that point...