mashton-
Well if less space and money was dedicated to car transit and car parking you could have had a safe cycling infrastructure that would have allowed you and the children to ride the 3 miles to the museum, and/or use multi-modal friendly public transport.
I would have taken the car too, but another way is possible.
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It’s a many vs few thing really isn’t it? Your unnecessary car trip (potentially) takes road space away from other more efficient (people per hour) means of transport, could deter more vulnerable road users from making sustainable transport choices, and then parking it takes public realm away from uses more beneficial to the general populace. Four people travelled smoothly in to the Tate but the x hundred Coin Street community residents are denied increased green space, wider pavements and car-free areas to frolic.
When wandering around town, do you ever pause, inhale deeply, survey the sights and think ‘mmmm yes, this beautiful pocket of the city would definitely be improved by a few more cars in the way’?
A majority of city users don’t drive. A majority of city users’ daily experiences in the city would be improved if they didn’t have to interact with cars/road traffic. A minority of city users have decided that using their box to travel around in increased personal convenience on often unnecessary journeys is more important than the wellbeing of this majority. Emissions is currently a large, but not complete, part of it; going electric doesn’t absolve you of having a disproportionately negative effect on the environment (infrastructure allocation, safety) of a majority of those around you,
…is a way of answering that question. I’m not as evangelical as that answer suggests, and it’s not a fight I can have without being massively hypocritical. But every time I jump in the car and drive somewhere, all of this is something I internalise. @amey spouts the talking points better than I could, but even he has succumbed to the wonders of car ownership now.
E: @Lolo put it far more succinctly in the ten minutes it took to tease that out of my brain.
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Lolo
6pt
The extent being up to the point at which it requires a change of personal behaviour?
An electric car carrying four people is the optimum use of the vehicle, but four people travelling through a city not using a car is 'better' (whatever that means).
Aware I'm coming across as a crazy anti-car type, just thought I'd push some buttons. Now I'm semi-rural I'm using the car for everything and I hate it.