[Closed] Will the government really get brits out of their emotional castles?

I share your cynicism.
It's fine to say local residents will be given a say but car-owning residents will, in the main, not be supportive.

It’s fine to say local residents will be given a say but car-owning residents will, in the main, not be supportive.

The residents backlash against a recently installed Low Traffic Neighbourhood here has filled nearly 40 pages of the online forum. Huge amounts of whatabouttery - residents know that it makes them sound selfish if they want it for themselves so it's all: what about the elderly, the disabled, the children, the emergency services, the pollution from all this diverted traffic....?!?

They don't want a cycling revolution, they want to be able to drive their 4x4 wherever and whenever. The worry I have with announcements like this is simply that nothing will get done - schemes get proposed, residents complain, scheme gets watered down to near nothingness and it's still declared as a success.

schemes get proposed, residents complain, scheme gets watered down to near nothingness and it’s still declared as a success.

A small minority of 'People who complain' and an imagined army of 'People who might complain' yield much of the real power in society. And the real motivations aren't either self-interest or benevolent concern for others even though the complaints canl be dressed up an either- its just spite. Spite is the key motivator in many people's lives and 'preventing something' is the only power they seem to be able to exercise.

I think you will see some schemes go ahead despite people's complaints as we need to reduce our pollution output. But fast forward 5-10 years when everyone will be driving electric or hydrogen cars and our pollution output has come down to the numbers that is deemed acceptable. Then you will see our town centres revert back to being dominated by the car.

People inherently look for the easiest (or laziest) way of doing things. So if they already have a car which has cost them a lot of money then they will use it instead of walking or cycling because both of those activities require effort. Just take a look at all the short cuts lines you see that people take through parks etc.

If I was the government I'd be looking at reducing or even stopping company cars. When your company actively encourages you to have a car even if you're predominantly based in one location. Which could even be within walking distance of your house. Then people will drive more often as they want to get the full value of their car cost.

If I was the government I’d be looking at reducing or even stopping company cars. When your company actively encourages you to have a car even if you’re predominantly based in one location. Which could even be within walking distance of your house. Then people will drive more often as they want to get the full value of their car cost.

On a related, but contradictory note, people who do have a need for company cars (such as those who do big miles) and company vans should be allowed and encouraged to use them for personal journeys as well.

My estate (with not a lot of parking) has a lot of branded vans (SSE, Thames Water and so on, rather than one man band plumbers), but they all need a car as well for the weekend and evenings.

We are animals of convenience, I was guilty of it myself when I had a car until 2012, the quickest way regardless of personal health and pollution always seemed to be jumping in the car.

I definitely miss the car for bulk food shopping, day trips for the two of us and travelling to places around England and Wales for up to a week or so, but for typical day to day life my dependence upon a bike has been great for me on the whole and it finally lead me to finding the likes of Butser Hill being a ride away... After I had been living in Southampton for ~25 years!

The new pop up cycle lanes, concentrating vehicles on less tarmac, making journeys take longer might make some make the change and ditch the car more often. But I suspect it will take a new driving tax system to really make people change their ways, especially for the crazy amount of sub 5-mile journeys that are undertaken, such as dropping off "Jack/Jill" at school less than half a mile away.

This is a brilliantly stw thread title

My biggest worry is the proposed:

Active Travel England

Which sounds a lot like a new QuANGO (remember them?) that will probably divert funds and influence away from already useful and experienced existing organisations like sustrans towards BoJo and Gove's mates...

The opening paragraph in that Guardian article is about residents banishing through traffic from local streets. Provided that it's sufficiently local that could work well. Nobody wants through traffic on *their* street, it's stopping them using other streets as a rat run that they object to. Harness NIMBYism and use it for good 🙂

There was a survey doing the rounds a few days ago about 5 out of 6 being supportive of more cycle infrastructure. It's just that the 1 out of 6 are very noisy (and of course some of the other 5 may change their mind if a specific scheme inconveniences them).

Which sounds a lot like a new QuANGO (remember them?) that will probably divert funds and influence away from already useful and experienced existing organisations like sustrans towards BoJo and Gove’s mates…

I'd argue the point about Sustrans being useful...
I mean, they had some good ideas but they were a lobbying organisation (mostly) staffed by volunteer and funded by charity, reliant on councils to do the actual work and for a long time only too keen on stamping their name across any old rubbish of a "cycle facility" which is why they've just removed a quarter of it for being shit.

This is one of those things that could be brilliant or rubbish. Knowing the Government, I'm tending towards the latter.

If ATE is actually given devolved powers, a guaranteed funding stream and they employ a couple of top-notch "cycling czars" with the powers to actually see proper schemes implemented, it could all be worth it. Otherwise it's just another re-announcement of existing funds and a vague hope that "it'll all turn out OK".