I'll say this for Osborne...

[GrumpyGregry]

No changes to fuel duty plans already set out. "More pain at the pumps" says Edmund King, AA President a "budget blow-out" that will force drivers off the road.

Then he tugs at the heart strings big time by playing the rural and disabled driver cards... "We have heard much about tax allowances but the increase in fuel duty makes no allowance for car-dependent, rural and disabled drivers. Only last week the prime minister told American students that UK fuel prices would make them "faint", yet the government seems intent on inflicting more pain for no gain on drivers. Ironically, such a hike in duty doesn't necessarily help government finances as people will cut spending at the pumps and in shops, and it could fuel inflation,"

I say; well done George. Even the lovely Helen is now talking about getting a job nearer home or one accessible by public transport or getting a much more fuel efficient car.... force drivers off the roads? Yes please.

 

[ufkacbln]

I love the bleating by the AA

Car ownership in disabled groups is actually very loin rural communities the only car dependent is not only low, but tends to be the bread winner, whist the rest of the family is stusck without transport.

Both are in fact the groups that would benefit from a less car dependent culture , and one that had a better public transport infrastructure.

Yet they are being by the AA used to justify the culture that disadvantages them!

 

[green1]

I love the bleating by the AA

Car ownership in disabled groups is actually very loin rural communities the only car dependent is not only low, but tends to be the bread winner, whist the rest of the family is stusck without transport.

Both are in fact the groups that would benefit from a less car dependent culture , and one that had a better public transport infrastructure.

Yet they are being by the AA used to justify the culture that disadvantages them!

I'd love to know how you work out it would benefit them. I've moved out now but my parents house is 8 miles from the nearest bus stop along roads a bus would never go. When you do get to the bus stop there are a grand total of 6 buses a day and it cost nearly 8 quid to get a return to the nearest town 14 miles away.
Dosen't matter how you dress it up if you live in a location like that you will always be car dependant.

 

[ufkacbln]

I'd love to know how you work out it would benefit them. I've moved out now but my parents house is 8 miles from the nearest bus stop along roads a bus would never go. When you do get to the bus stop there are a grand total of 6 buses a day and it cost nearly 8 quid to get a return to the nearest town 14 miles away.
Dosen't matter how you dress it up if you live in a location like that you will always be car dependant.

Reread the whole sentence?

However thanks for reinforcing my concerns

The big problem is that these places have become isolated due to the car dependence.

I come from a rural area where we used to have buses, and the elderly / infirm, families and farm workers families depended on this.

Now most of the older villagers have been forced out of their home and the families are marooned whilst the car is at work with the "bread winner.

65% of single pensioners do not have a car, 40% of women don't drive, and car ownership in the elderly is characteristically low due to medical impairment and cost.

Not being personal, but a valid question?

When in a few years your parents enter one of these groups, how are they going to cope?

Or would they benefit from a culture that has the two components in the original post, less car dependence aand better public transport?

 

[Linford]

Reread the whole sentence?

However thanks for reinforcing my concerns

The big problem is that these places have become isolated due to the car dependence.

I come from a rural area where we used to have buses, and the elderly / infirm, families and farm workers families depended on this.

Now most of the older villagers have been forced out of their home and the families are marooned whilst the car is at work with the "bread winner.

65% of single pensioners do not have a car, 40% of women don't drive, and car ownership in the elderly is characteristically low due to medical impairment and cost.

Not being personal, but a valid question?

When in a few years your parents enter one of these groups, how are they going to cope?

Or would they benefit from a culture that has the two components in the original post, less car dependence aand better public transport?

My parents lived in a similar place - very isolated, and I think the last bus back there from the town was at 5:15pm which was a mile fro where my mum worked in a pharmacy which closed @ 5:30 with a good half mile walk on the other side from the bus stop to their house.

They moved back to the town after about 10 years as they found life quite difficult with access to relatively local amenities miles away. After 6pm, everything local shut and they had to do a 20+ mile round trip to get a takeaway, a loaf of bread or a pint of milk.

My dad is still driving now and is nearly 83. He regards the car as a lifeline as his mobility is not brilliant.

It is alright laying down the law, and dicating to others, but the reality is it is unfair to judge other peoples set of circummstances on your own.

You can walk along the back roads where they lived for half an hour and only come across a couple of cars tops. Traffic density is not an issue there.

 

[swampyseifer]

its okay though, because they're going to dump shed-loads of cash into public transport, well, public transport in London anyway...because looking good for the Olympics is all that seems to matter

 

[dellzeqq]

I'd love to know how you work out it would benefit them. I've moved out now but my parents house is 8 miles from the nearest bus stop along roads a bus would never go. When you do get to the bus stop there are a grand total of 6 buses a day and it cost nearly 8 quid to get a return to the nearest town 14 miles away.
Dosen't matter how you dress it up if you live in a location like that you will always be car dependant.

I was never car dependent when I lived in the sticks. I rode a bike.

 

[green1]

I was never car dependent when I lived in the sticks. I rode a bike.

22 miles with a weeks worth of shopping?

 

[dellzeqq]

22 miles with a weeks worth of shopping?

sixteen as it happens - but then the bike was thirty years old

 

[GrumpyGregry]

It is alright laying down the law, and dicating to others, but the reality is it is unfair to judge other peoples set of circummstances on your own.

Who, other than Gorgeous George, is laying down the law and dictating to others on this?

I know, and am related to, old folk who used to cycle/walk everywhere and are now terrified to do so because of the speed and volume of traffic on their local rural lanes.

Anything that gets people out of cars over time is a good thing in my book. Folk choosing to move to the countryside, in a lovely little village, do so on the basis that their car enables this lifestyle choice. It disables the choices of other.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

22 miles with a weeks worth of shopping?

I think you'll find Tesco's et al do home delivery these days.

 

[Linford]

Who, other than Gorgeous George, is laying down the law and dictating to others on this?

I know, and am related to, old folk who used to cycle/walk everywhere and are now terrified to do so because of the speed and volume of traffic on their local rural lanes.

Anything that gets people out of cars over time is a good thing in my book. Folk choosing to move to the countryside, in a lovely little village, do so on the basis that their car enables this lifestyle choice. It disables the choices of other.

My mum is 79 now and walks for miles when she goes out. My dad is driving when he feels up to it, but has had vertigo for a few years now which on bad days stops him from lifting his head off the pillow let alone riding a cycle - he can manage a drive to the shops though when feeling OK. My MIL and FIL are 75 and struggle to walk to the end of their drive. Without access to people who have cars, the in laws are effectively housebound. We take a wheelchair when we take the MIL out and she uses it after a couple of strokes

Dig her out of the wheelchair and make her cycle eh !

 

[MacB]

I know, and am related to, old folk who used to cycle/walk everywhere and are now terrified to do so because of the speed and volume of traffic on their local rural lanes.

Anything that gets people out of cars over time is a good thing in my book. Folk choosing to move to the countryside, in a lovely little village, do so on the basis that their car enables this lifestyle choice. It disables the choices of other.

I think these two in conjunction aren't mentioned enough...to make a road unpleasant for general use or living by it would take an enormous amount of foot/pedal traffic...doesn't take many cars at all really.

Also since taking up cycling I've become far more aware of the impact of my driving on others. I live in a nice little cul-de-sac, chosen for child safety and lack of through traffic. But I never used to consider that I was exporting, by my driving choices, things I didn't like to others....I have made different driving choices since.

 

[ufkacbln]

22 miles with a weeks worth of shopping?

I can remember something called ... "a shop"

Most villages had one, and you could buy things in them. If they didn't have it then they would source it.

 

[green1]

Thats great if you live in a village. It's still eight miles to the nearest village from my parents house.