[alski]

how to drive by tony
suggestions......
1] work from home if possible
2] walk to office if possible
3] share with others your drive to work
4] use public transport

answers.....
1] number 10
2] westminster
3] 3 squad cars and 10 outriders + 3 other cars for cronies
4] live in central London nr 3 tube stations

is it me but..
1] the official opposition are now suggesting we shouldn't fly, this is a problem as i hear many UK jobs are moving abroad
2] as no community police most people Tony's age wont risk walking
3] the standard of some drivers is so poor you cant risk a bike, i always drive in convoy, as not enough road capacity, and too many cones when nobody is working
4] there is no capacity on the trains, and who can afford to live central London, even ballack say's he has to rent

at least you know where you are with the tree huggers and the monster raving loonies
i am worried that both major parties are so out of touch with the real world and the need to travel to work outside of the capital

[ALD0]

Interesting post there...

[funkychicken]

The governments attitude towards drivers is driving me insane. How they can expect us to use public transport when they cut back on the number of buses, and car share is rediculous. Even though I only work 8 miles from home, it would take me hours to get there on a bus as there is no direct route, and the buses around here are so unreliable it would be a miricle if I ever made it there. And whilst car sharing might be an option for some, for those of us that work in for small companies where the no two employees come from the same area, and the hours you work change daily it would be as good as impossible. Its alright for the government to tell us all what do to, but lets see how many of them actually practice what they preech. They need to start living in the real world. And dont even get me started on their "wonderful" new ideas for taxing the motorist...

[IH1]

The latest appeal to the public by Labour is to be more environmentally friendly and cutting CO2 emissions when we drive our cars such as don't rev your engines, don't do heavy braking, reduce clutter in your boot and on top of your roof. Soon they will be making all these crimes!! It's becoming a joke!

[Paul]

Sounds like sound advice to me.

Anyway, I feel bad I have to drive Alfie to nursery, but we live in the middle of nowhere, and his nursery is on the other side of nowhere, so it's a lot of nowhere in between without a direct route/safe cycle route or regular (any) bus service.

I'm convinced if public transport were better a lot more people would use it a lot more often.

Thing is, when it comes to public transport it seems policy is lead by profit, not getting people on board, yet when it comes to personal transport we're expected to pay through the nose.

[Wooly]

He doesnt seem to understand the transport isnt up to scratch. Buses are vandalised, **** on the floor, bubblegum on seats knife scratches on windows full of snotty youths. They are never on time, in fact ive given up on busses since college, they turn up whenever they like where i live.

Underground i dont have a problem with it is leagues ahead of paris and new yorks tubes imo, but we need bloomin' air condition. id happily pay 8 quid to drive my own car with a/c on in the summer.
i dont like the over crowdedness of it in rush hour though, no idea how they can sort that out. seems they have no idea either but they are still trying to get people to use it.

Planes and frequent flyers, government are to blame for the people that decide to live abroad but work here. the only reason they are abroad is because they were forced out by government!

I am gettiing more and more annoyed by the crap they come out with, we paid to have roads, we pay to maintain then now they are charging us all over again. Its supposed to be a service not a business.

I hope to move once this black box stuff comes in, that will be the nail in the coffin.
Its either france or spain for me , those countries will most likely be the only places i can afford a house anyway.

CO2 from motoring only counts for 2% of pollution in the uk, why dont environmentalists boycott the dirty great powerstations up north and get the government to put their hands in their pocket for once and lead by example.
Its not as if we can stop global warming anyway, it happens naturally and it will happen again whether we like it or not.

[slider]

acording to the latest documentry on BBC2 CO2 does not cause global warming , It's controled by activity on the sun . Bring on the petrol revolution & live your own life..

[Smurfn]

Quote: Originally Posted by alski (original)

how to drive by tony
suggestions......
1] work from home if possible
2] walk to office if possible
3] share with others your drive to work
4] use public transport

All sound OK to me, if possible. He should have added bicycle to #2 though.

They may not always be possible, but often they are, and people just don't think of them.

[Smurfn]

Quote: Originally Posted by Wooly (original)

CO2 from motoring only counts for 2% of pollution in the uk, why dont environmentalists boycott the dirty great powerstations up north and get the government to put their hands in their pocket for once and lead by example.

True, there are a lot of other things we can do as well, but that doesn't mean we can just ignore some of the things because they might not be what we want to hear

[Smurfn]

Quote: Originally Posted by Wooly (original)

Its not as if we can stop global warming anyway, it happens naturally and it will happen again whether we like it or not.

Quote: Originally Posted by slider (original)

acording to the latest documentry on BBC2 CO2 does not cause global warming , It's controled by activity on the sun . Bring on the petrol revolution & live your own life..

The science behind "Global Warming" is not the most exact, and there are a lot of theories around. But, we aren't going to change things unless we try, and oil is a limited resource anyway.

[smartbomb]

We're all told to use less fuel and use completely tat public transport. But when I go past the nearby airport and see planes pumping filth into the sky I can't help thinking there is an inbalance ! OK fuel is taxed, but what is Tony's cronies doing with the revenue collected from gas guzzling ?
I've not seen the film - 'Who killed the electric car ?' but I'd like to.
Anyhow, there's no proof of C02 and global warming, just in the same way there have been no WMDs, why let the little matter of proof have any infulence on what Mr Blair does.

[Fin]

I don't like all this new legislation to help stop 'climate change', which the government seems to want to rush in as a knee jerk reaction to scientific data reported by the media. The whole thing to me seems like an over reaction.

To me there are seperate issues. The Global Warming theory simply states that the world is getting warmer. This is true, but then it gets mixed up with the theory of the Greenhouse Effect. It has long been known that Solar activity has a direct effect on our climate, and no amount of easing off the accelerator will help stop that. The problem is that the media to my observation cherry pick the data they report. The scientists who made the aforementioned programme also pointed out the fact that scientists have reservations of publishing scientific data that contradicts the accepted explanations for the increase in the Earth's average temperature.

Our climate is shaped by so many complex systems that I don't honeslty believe that our CO2 emissions are having as huge effect as is reported. The Earth has warmed and cooled periodically for millions of years, and the concept that we can 'control' our climate, to me, seems hopelessly optimistic.

By all means increase recycling, research cleaner fuels to help us more intelligently manage our limited resources, and improve public transport. But making us feel guilty about our 'carbon footprints', introducing taxes and coming out with gimmicky policies is not necessary.

[zyo]

With regards to the comments about flying and the extra tax that was put on flights (I think it was £10) would the idea of paying an extra £10 per head put you off taking that £1000 hoilday , I think not. If the government were really serious about cutting emmissions from planes they would have to load air travel tax so much as to dissuade people from using them. So once again comes back to revenue raising, something that this Government seems to need to do a lot. I find that driving has become less of an enjoyment than it has ever been. What with all the cameras and the road calming schemes and the notion that all accidents come down to speed. The fact that there are less Police patrols, that drink driving is apparently on the up (coincidentally at time when the reliance is more on speed cameras than Police patrols). I have seen several displays of absoloutely horrendous driving recently but as long as these people can drive passed the camera at the correct speed they are not going to get picked up.
The local authorities in our area over the last 5 years have turned most of our three lane roundabouts to two lanes. Whereas before most people seemed to use the first lane for the first exit ,the second for the second exit and the third for anything after, now nobody seems to know which of the two they should use but also traffic is backing up all over the place with a third less traffic going round. If road pricing is the way we are going , which lets face it , it is,all less well off people will not be able to afford to get around but all those well off people will be laughing. (MP's included). They should at least consider charging people a % of your wage rather than a flat rate. It could be set in April and you would be charged that percentage all year.

[Fin]

Quote: Originally Posted by zyo (original)

With regards to the comments about flying and the extra tax that was put on flights (I think it was £10) would the idea of paying an extra £10 per head put you off taking that £1000 hoilday , I think not. If the government were really serious about cutting emmissions from planes they would have to load air travel tax so much as to dissuade people from using them. So once again comes back to revenue raising, something that this Government seems to need to do a lot. I find that driving has become less of an enjoyment than it has ever been. What with all the cameras and the road calming schemes and the notion that all accidents come down to speed. The fact that there are less Police patrols, that drink driving is apparently on the up (coincidentally at time when the reliance is more on speed cameras than Police patrols). I have seen several displays of absoloutely horrendous driving recently but as long as these people can drive passed the camera at the correct speed they are not going to get picked up.
The local authorities in our area over the last 5 years have turned most of our three lane roundabouts to two lanes. Whereas before most people seemed to use the first lane for the first exit ,the second for the second exit and the third for anything after, now nobody seems to know which of the two they should use but also traffic is backing up all over the place with a third less traffic going round. If road pricing is the way we are going , which lets face it , it is,all less well off people will not be able to afford to get around but all those well off people will be laughing. (MP's included). They should at least consider charging people a % of your wage rather than a flat rate. It could be set in April and you would be charged that percentage all year.

The problem is your post is riddled with common sense and good ideas. So none of it will happen

[Paul]

Our local council has a cunning way to get your out of your cars.



Potholes.

Seriously, the roads around here are falling apart, worst I've ever known them to be. Now THAT spoils a good drive.

[big-kev]

Incredibly , our local council thought it would be fine to take our bus services away last year!!! Cant get anywhere with out a car so Tony will just have to like it.

[smartbomb]

Could this be the same council who built a new bus-stop on a route which was last used 2 months previous ???

[British SD]

None of these measures will do a lick of difference to the environment when the main polluters of the world refuse to participate.

Also Newtons third Law is never discussed or promoted in respect to global warming. "For every action there is a equal and oposite reaction" The warmer and milder the weather here in Canada, the less our heating and energy usage needs are, the longer the farming/growing season and the more vegitation (aka Carbon absorbers) grows in the vast northern hemisphere.

It will suck for the Polar bears though and all the Canadians that live in Igloo's

[morrisminiminor]

Why will it suck for the polar bears? Thousands of years ago Greenland was much warmer than it is now. Polar Bears adapt.

morrisminiminor

[morrisminiminor]

Did any of you watch the program about the CO2 CON during the week? This programme certainly highlighted the rubbish that is being spewed forth in the name of 'Saving The Planet' Don't believe the rubbish being reported by the BBC either. The IPCC, this group of 2500 scientists who agree on the cause of global warming doesn't just include scientists but also POLITICIANS. The main fallacy is CO2 causes temperature rises. NO temperature rises cause an increase in CO2 levels. What is the worst offender? Not even volcanos with 6 times the levels than that created by man. Try the worlds oceans.
morrisminiminor