co-op said:
... to a pathetic assertion
Another pathetic response. Judging by your petulant and bad-tempered post you are most certainly one of those who aren't emotionally capable of the kinds of stresses driving places you under. I'm quite surprised you're old enough to have a licence.
Actually I've held a driving licence for eleven years, driven for a living, taken part in amateur motorsport, studied transport economics and hstory and probably know far more about driving than those who froth and rant about motorists.
I am ill, though, which probably explains my shortness of temper today...
Incoherent response. I posted that "governoring down car speeds would improve the driving experience for most drivers too (or words to that effect)" and you counter that by the devastating argument that we should reduce urban speed limits. Where's the disagreement here?
Isn't the disagreement obvious? I don't think that fitting governors to cars is either workable or justifiable. Dropping the urban speed limit, on the other hand, is both.
More incoherence.
Could you point out where I did this? Your mobile phone is your own - voluntary - personal tracking device. A guvnor does nothing except stop you driving above a certain limit.
I can turn my mobile off, or have a PAYG one.
How are these speed governors supposed to work, if not via tracking of some sort? After all, unless you want all cars slowed down to 15mph all the time the governor has to adjust to a new speed limit once you get beyond the urban limit.
The road-pricing scheme, of course, would have enabled the government to track all journeys: I fail to believe that your proposed scheme wouldn't do the same.
FWIW your frothing response kind of typifies a stereotype of the emotionally incontinent petrolhead. Go for a spin - do you really think I care what you do? All I'd ask is that you try and take some pleasure in what you do rather than (as you obviously intend from the context of your post) to take revenge against some poor pedestrian or cyclist or child for all the many frustrations in your life.
Oh I do love it when you anti-car warriors get on your high horses.
You just don't get it, do you?
FWIW I don't own a car, was an urban cyclist (but won't in London: too dangerous) and get around all the time by public transport and on foot. I just cannot stand the attitude of mind that seems to think that cars are bad, period, and that if we make using them as unpleasant as possible everything will resolve itself.
The thing is, I think far too many people are locked into this mindset of being either pro- or anti-car. It's ridiculous. The fact is that different means of transport are the optimum for different sorts of journeys. Buses are great in urban areas, but not so good for long runs: trains are brilliant for transporting people and goods quickly over long distances, but not very flexible; cars are a pain in the arse in cities, but great for getting around elsewhere, especially in less densely populated areas where with the best will in the world it will never be possible to run a comprehensive public transport network. What we need to do is work towards a situation whereby people use the means of transport that's best for a given journey rather than automatically reaching for the car keys. But just making life difficult for the motorist won't achieve that.
Silly response. Where did I say that? My point, since you obviously missed it, is that since 80% of the population lives in urban areas your original point about the poor isolated rustics etc was a bit of an irrelevance for the overwhelming majority. That remains the case despite your tendentious and illogical argument here.
No, it really isn't. You brought up the fact that 80% of the population live in urban areas to try and dismiss my point that cars are extremely useful outside cities. But the point stands: 20% of 60 million people is 12 million people. I don't think you can just dismiss their transport needs as an irrelevance, even if they're not the 'overwhelming majority.'
Besides, how big does a place have to be to count as 'urban' on your figures? Plenty of large-ish towns are pretty poorly served by public transport...
