BBC Poll: Should all cities have car-free days?

[Tony Raven]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7009034.stm

Results currently 74.2% Yes, 24.1% No, 1.7% Don't Know.

--
Tony

" I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong."
Bertrand Russell

 

[Rob Morley]

In article <[email protected]>, Tony Raven
[email protected]lid says...
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7009034.stm
>
> Results currently 74.2% Yes, 24.1% No, 1.7% Don't Know.
>
>
"Traffic was banned from several roads in central London for the day to
make way for thousands of cyclists" - this really pisses me off, no
wonder the drivers of motor vehicles think bikes don't have as much
right to use the road.

 

[squeaker]

On 24 Sep, 07:53, Tony Raven <[email protected]> wrote:
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7009034.stm
>
> Results currently 74.2% Yes, 24.1% No, 1.7% Don't Know.
>
> --
> Tony
>
And the Freewheel website 'countdown' timer says that there are only
30days 2 hrs to the next one

 

[Coyoteboy]

Tony Raven wrote:
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7009034.stm
>
> Results currently 74.2% Yes, 24.1% No, 1.7% Don't Know.
>

How stupid - talk about totally counterproductive thinking. We'd like to
be treated like normal road users - i know lets have days when only we
are allowed on the road....

 

[dkahn400]

On Sep 24, 8:20 am, Rob Morley <[email protected]> wrote:

> "Traffic was banned from several roads in central London for the day to
> make way for thousands of cyclists" - this really pisses me off, no
> wonder the drivers of motor vehicles think bikes don't have as much
> right to use the road.

Let's have a proper car free day and have private motor traffic banned
from the entire Congestion Charge area on a weekday.

--
Dave...

 

[Paul - xxx]

dkahn400 wrote:
> On Sep 24, 8:20 am, Rob Morley <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> "Traffic was banned from several roads in central London for the day to
>> make way for thousands of cyclists" - this really pisses me off, no
>> wonder the drivers of motor vehicles think bikes don't have as much
>> right to use the road.
>
> Let's have a proper car free day and have private motor traffic banned
> from the entire Congestion Charge area on a weekday.

Why only motor traffic?

Why not stop all private traffic?

Why not stop _all_ traffic?


--
Paul - ***

 

[Tony Raven]

In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] says...
> >
> > Let's have a proper car free day and have private motor traffic banned
> > from the entire Congestion Charge area on a weekday.
>
> Why only motor traffic?
>
> Why not stop all private traffic?
>
> Why not stop _all_ traffic?
>

Because it allows people to reclaim the streets from the dominance of
private motor traffic - see e.g. the success and popularity of car free
days in Bogotá.

--
Tony

" I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong."
Bertrand Russell

 

[Paul - xxx]

Tony Raven wrote:
> In article <[email protected]>,
> [email protected] says...
>>> Let's have a proper car free day and have private motor traffic banned
>>> from the entire Congestion Charge area on a weekday.
>> Why only motor traffic?
>>
>> Why not stop all private traffic?
>>
>> Why not stop _all_ traffic?
>>
>
> Because it allows people to reclaim the streets from the dominance of
> private motor traffic - see e.g. the success and popularity of car free
> days in Bogotá.

Why would something that works in Bogota be applicable here?

Actually, I dunno why Im arguing this, I live nowhere near a City, so it
never affects me ...

--
Paul - ***

 

[POHB]

On 24 Sep, 11:15, Coyoteboy <[email protected]> wrote:
> How stupid - talk about totally counterproductive thinking. We'd like to
> be treated like normal road users - i know lets have days when only we
> are allowed on the road....

I don't want to be treated like "normal" road users, I want extra
privilages for not taking up so much space, chucking out fumes,
burning oil etc.

 

[POHB]

On 24 Sep, 07:53, Tony Raven <[email protected]> wrote:
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7009034.stm
>
> Results currently 74.2% Yes, 24.1% No, 1.7% Don't Know.

Who goes to the effort of voting Don't Know in a poll like that?

 

[dkahn400]

On Sep 24, 1:02 pm, POHB <[email protected]> wrote:

> Who goes to the effort of voting Don't Know in a poll like that?

I don't know.

--
Dave...

 

[Coyoteboy]

POHB wrote:
> On 24 Sep, 11:15, Coyoteboy <[email protected]> wrote:
>> How stupid - talk about totally counterproductive thinking. We'd like to
>> be treated like normal road users - i know lets have days when only we
>> are allowed on the road....
>
> I don't want to be treated like "normal" road users, I want extra
> privilages for not taking up so much space, chucking out fumes,
> burning oil etc.
>
Well you can't have them, thats a silly way of thinking - in that case
wagons would get no priority at all and pedestrians would be allowed
free reign on the roads. Making cyclists out to be "different" or a
"special case" does nothing but hurt the cause. As anyone about the
critical mass events around my way and all they comment on is not how
its nice that cyclists are being able to use the roads and how its
converted them to thinking about using a bike. They just ***** about the
fact that the roads are blocked and its the f-ing cyclists AGAIN- not
only do they run reds, get in the way, hop on and off pavements but now
they are also taking upon themselves to take over the roads completely
at times.

Organisers of these events who do so with "its good publicity for bikes
and makes car drivers think about the possibility of using a bike" are
in their own cloud cookoo land.

 

[Paul Boyd]

Coyoteboy said the following on 24/09/2007 14:51:
> ...and pedestrians would be allowed
> free reign on the roads.

Er, legally speaking they have (except on motorways)

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

 

[Paul Boyd]

POHB said the following on 24/09/2007 13:02:
> On 24 Sep, 07:53, Tony Raven <[email protected]> wrote:
>> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7009034.stm
>>
>> Results currently 74.2% Yes, 24.1% No, 1.7% Don't Know.
>
> Who goes to the effort of voting Don't Know in a poll like that?

I did answer "Don't know" on the "Should savers take their money out of
Northern Rock?" poll simply because I wanted to see what the result was
without voting Yes or No!

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

 

[POHB]

On 24 Sep, 14:51, Coyoteboy <[email protected]> wrote:
> POHB wrote:
> > On 24 Sep, 11:15, Coyoteboy <[email protected]> wrote:
> >> How stupid - talk about totally counterproductive thinking. We'd like to
> >> be treated like normal road users - i know lets have days when only we
> >> are allowed on the road....
>
> > I don't want to be treated like "normal" road users, I want extra
> > privilages for not taking up so much space, chucking out fumes,
> > burning oil etc.
>
> Well you can't have them, thats a silly way of thinking - in that case
> wagons would get no priority at all and pedestrians would be allowed
> free reign on the roads.

I'm not saying I want to take it to those extremes, I'd just like more
priority to be given to cyclists compared with motorists in some
places. For example there's residential roads round our way which
have had gates put at one end to stop them being used as rat runs by
the oil burners, but are still through roads for bikes and peds. This
acknowledges that bikes are different from cars in their impact on the
local environment and is IMO a good thing.

 

[Coyoteboy]

POHB wrote:
> On 24 Sep, 14:51, Coyoteboy <[email protected]> wrote:
>> POHB wrote:
>>> On 24 Sep, 11:15, Coyoteboy <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>> How stupid - talk about totally counterproductive thinking. We'd like to
>>>> be treated like normal road users - i know lets have days when only we
>>>> are allowed on the road....
>>> I don't want to be treated like "normal" road users, I want extra
>>> privilages for not taking up so much space, chucking out fumes,
>>> burning oil etc.
>> Well you can't have them, thats a silly way of thinking - in that case
>> wagons would get no priority at all and pedestrians would be allowed
>> free reign on the roads.
>
> I'm not saying I want to take it to those extremes, I'd just like more
> priority to be given to cyclists compared with motorists in some
> places. For example there's residential roads round our way which
> have had gates put at one end to stop them being used as rat runs by
> the oil burners, but are still through roads for bikes and peds. This
> acknowledges that bikes are different from cars in their impact on the
> local environment and is IMO a good thing.
>

I think thats purely down to a safety and crime solution, not due to
them being green. We'd all like to see bikes encouraged, but i wouldnt
like to see cars eliminated either. I'd just prefer to see bikes
encouraged as a replacement for cars some of the time - thats all it
needs, not draconian measures like banning cars.

 

[burtthebike]

"Paul - ***" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Tony Raven wrote:
>> In article <[email protected]>,
>> [email protected] says...
>>>> Let's have a proper car free day and have private motor traffic banned
>>>> from the entire Congestion Charge area on a weekday.
>>> Why only motor traffic?
>>>
>>> Why not stop all private traffic?
>>>
>>> Why not stop _all_ traffic?
>>>
>>
>> Because it allows people to reclaim the streets from the dominance of
>> private motor traffic - see e.g. the success and popularity of car free
>> days in Bogotá.
>
> Why would something that works in Bogota be applicable here?

Why shouldn't it? Given that every "car free" event seems to receive
massive support from locals? and the only people who seem to object are the
drivers who can't drive through areas where they don't live.

 

[Tom Crispin]

On Mon, 24 Sep 2007 10:35:52 -0000, dkahn400 <[email protected]>
wrote:

>On Sep 24, 8:20 am, Rob Morley <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> "Traffic was banned from several roads in central London for the day to
>> make way for thousands of cyclists" - this really pisses me off, no
>> wonder the drivers of motor vehicles think bikes don't have as much
>> right to use the road.
>
>Let's have a proper car free day and have private motor traffic banned
>from the entire Congestion Charge area on a weekday.

That's not a proper car free day! A proper car free day would be to
ban all non emergency motor traffic from the entire area within the
M25.

 

[Tom Crispin]

On Mon, 24 Sep 2007 14:51:28 +0100, Coyoteboy
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Organisers of these events who do so with "its good publicity for bikes
>and makes car drivers think about the possibility of using a bike" are
>in their own cloud cookoo land.

That wasn't the aim. The aim was to encourage more new and returning
cyclists to ride regularly on London's roads.

Looking at the joy on so many people's faces as they cycled around I
am sure a great many will use the bicycle more regularly.

 

[Coyoteboy]

Tom Crispin wrote:
> On Mon, 24 Sep 2007 14:51:28 +0100, Coyoteboy
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> Organisers of these events who do so with "its good publicity for bikes
>> and makes car drivers think about the possibility of using a bike" are
>> in their own cloud cookoo land.
>
> That wasn't the aim. The aim was to encourage more new and returning
> cyclists to ride regularly on London's roads.
>
> Looking at the joy on so many people's faces as they cycled around I
> am sure a great many will use the bicycle more regularly.

But the point is the numbers are already going up (by 83% they claim)
and in so are causing more and more dislike amongst the other road users
- as noted by the press to some extent. Its pointless inviting people
out to ride around car-free because its just a publicity stunt by the
mayor - the percentage that will use their bike instead of a car in
future is minimal - most people, I'll wager, were simply doing it for
the chance to ride around london without cars, not finishing with any
real intentions of riding in future. Especially since vast numbers came
from outside london anyway.