I Give Up (motorists attitude)

"Daniel Barlow" wrote in message
...
JohnB writes:

I cannot agree more. You can talk and argue until you are blue in the
face but still people will drive just a few hundred yards. They*know*
you are right but they cannot make the change. There are always excuses.

This sounds like almost as horrible a generalisation as "cyclists are
all lawless lycra louts who hold up traffic and strike terror into the
hearts of innocent pedestrians"

I can quite believe there are some people like that: I've worked with
a few people myself who I don't expect to see on a bike ever in my
life (perhaps barring major life-shaking event of the "good morning Mr
Smith, the operation seems to have been successful; now make sure you
take regular exercise or you won't last to the end of the year").
Doesn't mean _everyone_ is like that, though. The oft-quoted
statistic is that cycle use increased 30% in London since the
congestion charge was introduced, so clearly at least a year ago there
were non-cyclists who weren't completely car-blinded. I doubt the
supply is exhausted even now.


I agree with this. What we need is some means of making the first mile or
three of a car journey really quite awkward, to deter people from the
shorter journeys. For example, if the govt. were to introduce road tolls,
you could have a very high charge for the first few miles, (in order to
deter stupidly short journeys), after which the per mile rate would decrease
for every mile after that so you don't end up with a penalty on reasonable
car journeys.

I agree that people know that they shouldn't drive such short journeys - but
I don't think most people realise *why* they shouldn't drive such short
journeys. I think people would be much more sensible if they realised how
much it costs them to make such short journeys (as Guy points out in his one
mile pledge post), instead of just preaching to people (as most people will
simply switch off from that).

"iarocu" wrote in message
So if people are prepared to sit in their cars for twice as long
as it would take to cycle the goverment might as well forget targets
for cycle use. It's not going to happen.


No kudos in the car park if you arrive on a "push bike".

--
Simon Mason
Anlaby
East Yorkshire.
53°44'N 0°26'W
http://www.simonmason.karoo.net

Daniel Barlow opined the following...
This sounds like almost as horrible a generalisation as "cyclists are
all lawless lycra louts who hold up traffic and strike terror into the
hearts of innocent pedestrians"

I can quite believe there are some people like that: I've worked with
a few people myself who I don't expect to see on a bike ever in my
life (perhaps barring major life-shaking event of the "good morning Mr
Smith, the operation seems to have been successful; now make sure you
take regular exercise or you won't last to the end of the year").

I work with some who still wouldn't. One drives either his car or a
company vehicle about 2 miles (MAX) to and from his house every day.
When I suggested that as the weather was nice, he should try cycling it;
"Oh no... You wouldn't get me on a bike!". Very few people at my work
place live more than 5 miles from work (direct) and at least one of the
ones further afield is basically on NCN1. I shall be putting up some
posters for Bike2Work next week, although I doubt that most would be
shamed into cycling.

Doesn't mean _everyone_ is like that, though. The oft-quoted
statistic is that cycle use increased 30% in London since the
congestion charge was introduced, so clearly at least a year ago there
were non-cyclists who weren't completely car-blinded. I doubt the
supply is exhausted even now.

Congestion charge is coming... Congestion charge is coming... Let's see
if there's a similar response in Edinburgh.

Yay pedal-powered post-apocalypse scenarios. I should pop into my LBS
this weekend sometime and see if they've got any rotating knives I can
clip to my spokes.

Now there's a plan. Obvious handlbar mounted ones might not be a bad
idea as it'd discourage drivers from getting too close.

Jon

Phil Clarke opined the following...
iarocu wrote:

So if people are prepared to sit in their cars for twice as long ....

a guy at work tells of a neighbour who pulls out of her drive into the
queue for the school run (big 4x4 obviously) and queues the few hundred
yards to the school, then drives the long way home to avoid school
traffic. She cant let the little cherubs walk because of the traffic,
and she knows it would be quicker to walk with them but she's bought the
car so may as well use it ....

Materials:

A strip of strong material about 5 metres in length x 20cm wide.
A box of small nails.
Superglue.

Directions:

Starting about 1 metre into the material, push nails through material.
Secure with a small amount of superglue.
When dry, lay it across the road (With practice, it can probably be cast
like a fishing line). Wait until aforementioned 4x4 has passed. Use un-
nailed end to pull it in and pack away for future use. (It could be
painted black / dark grey to blend in with the road.

When she acquires 4 punctures. Help her push the car into the drive (All
the while explaining how much easier it would be if she had a normal
car) and offer to walk the "cherubs" to school while she waits for the
AA.

Repeat as necessary.

Jon

Reply to
Yay pedal-powered post-apocalypse scenarios. I should pop into my LBS
this weekend sometime and see if they've got any rotating knives I can
clip to my spokes.

Now there's a plan. Obvious handlbar mounted ones might not be a bad
idea as it'd discourage drivers from getting too close.

As ever, Sheldon Brown has addressed the matter:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/lirpa.html#bayonetz

--
Mark, UK.
We hope to hear him swear, we love to hear him squeak,
We like to see him biting fingers in his horny beak.

Simon Mason wrote:
"iarocu" wrote in message
So if people are prepared to sit in their cars for twice as long
as it would take to cycle the goverment might as well forget targets
for cycle use. It's not going to happen.


No kudos in the car park if you arrive on a "push bike".

If you arrive on the bike regualrly, you start to lose the gut, your arse
and legs trim up a bit and your willy gets bigger (1).

You get more eye-ups from women.

Sod the kudos from the petrol heads.


(1) I read it so it must be true, fat tissue creates oestrogen which makes
it smaller. Also a thinner layer of subcutanious fat makes it stick out
further.

--
Andy Morris

AndyAtJinkasDotFreeserve.Co.UK


Love this:
Put an end to Outlook Express's messy quotes
http://home.in.tum.de/~jain/software/oe-quotefix/

AndyMorris wrote:

If you arrive on the bike regualrly, you start to lose the gut, your arse
and legs trim up a bit and your willy gets bigger (1).


You mean all those e-mails I've been sending to the Spam bin were really about
cycling?

Tony ;-)