Road Rage......

Watched an interesting documentary about traffic in our cities last evening. It put various points of view as to why some people transport their kids to school in 4x4's, why cyclists and pedestrians should have more priority or at least have their fair share of the the road. Trouble is, as with most multi viewpoint documentaries, they always present a 'balanced' argument, so balanced that you don't know who's side you are on by the end. I agree that we should encourage the use of bikes but not if cyclists then think it's ok to run red lights and go around in the dark with no lights. Keeping kids 'safe' on their way to posh schools in central London, or anywhere else for that matter, by transporting them in a huge Cherokee or X5 is understandable to some degree but it's never going to teach them how to be responsible getting themselves from A-B. Driving loads of these large vehicles in and around school pick up and drop off points is highly dangerous in itself simply because they are extremely un-pedestrian friendly - ie children can't be easily seen when they are close to these vehicles. But when you have a situation where there are simply too many vehicles in one place at one time it is difficult to see what can be done to improve things. So many of our cities have evolved with little forethought to how we really cope with such a high volume of traffic and promotion of alternatives generally seems to be re-active. Bikes, buses, taxis, eco-cars, pedestrians, delivery vehicles etc who knows who should have priority. Perhaps someone will suggest all pavements within a designated central zone in cities having a large plastic tube with a two way moving walkway coupled with a lane of moving seats (a bit like those long walkways you get at airports). These would be made from recycled plastic and snake all around with entrance and exit points at regular intervals. We could all walk or ride for free into the city centre in the dry from a drop off or car park point. The city centre would be free of vehicles. The existing roads could be used for delivery vehicles only which would be controlled for times and volume etc. I think I will start designing this and patent it! Of course the alternative to trying to think ahead is to say 'sod it', get a work from home job and sit at home in front of the telly with your computer on your lap and do everything online and never ever leave your house. I'm sure there are quite a few politicians who would love us to do that! Anyway, must stop now, and wind up the Hummer - it's time to pick up the kid's!!