This Should Not Be A Surprise, Should It?

The ban on buying new petrol cars after 2030 will not be enough to meet green targets because polluting vehicles bought today are 'very likely' to still be in use, the RAC Foundation has said.

Well, of course they will! And why? Because we're making better cars: 

Vehicles have become less prone to corrosion and serious mechanical failure, while the cost-of-living crisis has made buying a car less affordable, even preowned.

What does the RAC suggest? Scrapping the ridiculous green targets, perhaps? 

That would be sensible, wouldn't it? That would be what your members surely want, wouldn't it?

The RAC Foundation has urged the government to encourage new car buyers to go electric, or at least choose a vehicle with low emissions.

Oh. 'More of the same'. So much for representing your members interests...

Electric cars can cost less to run and most experts agree that they are better for the planet.

 And where do they find these 'experts'..? 

The War On Personal Freedom Continues...

Innovative neighbourhoods, where everyone living in them has access to most of their everyday needs within a 20-minute walk, could be trialled...

In London?  

...in Norfolk.

The least populated and mostly rural county? What gives? Why choose this? 

Such neighbourhoods have gained popularity in the United States, Australia and Scandinavia, with the concept that people can walk to and back from services within 20 minutes - 10 minutes there and 10 minutes back.

Which might be ok in dense conurbations, and assuming you can walk, but to trial this in Norfolk makes no sense at all. Bloody Greens and Lib-Dems... 

Lana Hempsall, Conservative county councillor for Acle...

*sighs* 

...proposed a motion about the possible creation of the neighbourhoods at a recent county council meeting, which was supported by 48 councillors, with none voting against.

While cars would not be banned (Ed: at first...), the neighbourhoods would be designed so walking, cycling or using public transport might be a more direct way to reach services.

Whether you like it or not. 

Make no mistake, they want to remove personal freedoms. And the best way to do this is to remove the invention that's probably given people the most personal freedom. 

So Where Do They Go?

Low-traffic neighbourhoods significantly reduce the amount of motor vehicles within their boundaries without appearing to push traffic on to roads around their edges, the most comprehensive study yet of such schemes in the UK has concluded.

They don't evaporate, do they?

While the authors behind the research, from the University of Westminster’s Active Travel Academy (ATA), noted they only had useable data for just under half the 96 LTNs installed in London between March 2020 and May 2021, but said there was significant overall evidence of so-called traffic evaporation.

Oh. My mistake!

The research, which was based on traffic count data before and after the installation of 46 so-called LTNs in London, found a reduction in motor traffic within the zones of 32.7% when measured as the median, and a 46.9% drop when calculated as the mean. Of the 413 roads inside the LTNs with before-and-after traffic counts, the percentage experiencing an average of fewer than 1,000 motor vehicles a day, seen as a good shorthand for a street receptive to more cycling and walking, rose from 41% to 66%.

But surely, unless they also measure the amount of before and after cycling and walking, they can't say that that's what people are doing instead?