Monday, 1 September 2025

No more cars?

Every now and then some daft politician or politico will declare that we should all give up our cars to "protect the environ-ment" or "get more exercise" or whatever. It doesn't seem to occur to them that for a lot of people cars are absolutely essential.

We don't use our car very often -  mainly for the weekly supermarket shop - but there are many things a car is vital for, especially if you're in a family.

If public transport is poor or non-existent, if you need to move something heavy and bulky, if you're taking your kids to school or to out-of-school activities, if you're visiting your parents or relatives in some out-of-the-way location, if you're visiting someone in hospital, and for all sorts of other awkward journeys, how would you get by without a car?

Taxis are okay for short journeys, but too dear for long journeys. You could cadge lifts but you can't do that too often.

We've used our car to take things to the recycling centre, to get to beauty spots, to bring home large purchases like furniture and plants, to take visitors for an outing or to the airport, to give people lifts in bad weather, to look at property for sale, and numerous other purposes.

It could be of course that the anti-car politicians don't seriously want us all to give up our cars. They're just looking for cheap headlines to keep them in the public eye. But most people will simply snort with disbelief and ask what planet they're living on.

2 comments:

  1. Most politicians are rich and have no clue about the realities of life for the average person. It's easy for them to spout such nonsense.

    I would be completely unable to function without a car, even if the buses stopped close to where I live. I usually do more than one thing on each trip out -- drop off some containers at recycling, shop for groceries, etc -- each of which would involve riding more than one bus line and some of which involve carrying heavy or bulky things. What I can do in an hour with a car would take all day.

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  2. Nick, I have no driver license, some of your points are correct, but sorry children can walk to school and parents too and the pollution of air is essential. Many health problems due to bad air. You have people who take their car to drive a 100m to the bakery. I think in town we need no car, for the countryside
    population it's another question. Car pollution is not a cheap headline in my eyes.
    Hannah

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