Smart Motorways

[SpellowHouse]

At that time, early sixties we had few motorway miles in place. The Preston bypass in 1958 was the first, later becoming the M6. I agree a bit more foresight would have been good but also I expect the money was not there.

There are too many cars on the road today anyway. At some point some government is going to have to say enough and start pricing cars off the road in large numbers.

It's strange the way that people seem to think there is no other way but the car. If you even mention life without a car, they think, well, it's unthinkable, and yet we managed just fine up until the last thirty or forty years or so. Back in the 60's and 70's,there were cars but people just didn't see the need to use them that much.

 

[Hagar]

It's strange the way that people seem to think there is no other way but the car. If you even mention life without a car, they think, well, it's unthinkable, and yet we managed just fine up until the last thirty or forty years or so. Back in the 60's and 70's,there were cars but people just didn't see the need to use them that much.

There was a family car. There were not his car and her car, there was not a sons or a daughters car leading up to a three or four car forecourt on a suburban street with a couple on the roadside if their mates turned up.
There were not every street in the city with cars parked nose to tail and the forthcoming trip hazards of cables snaking across the pavements.
Garages were a thing. Once. People used them to put their car in rather than filling them with junk or canoes, windsurfers and the like. In Manchester?

Look at old films of street scenes, I recall one of Eccles Greater Manchester with a gang of football crazy kids. I know those streets, there were half a dozen cars parked. At most. Now you cannot move for the horrible tin boxes.

Rant over. I am a one car family with a driveway and a garage.

 

[SpellowHouse]

There was a family car. There were not his car and her car, there was not asons or a daughters car leading up to a three or four car forecourt on a suburban street with a couple on the roadside if their mates turned up.
There were not every street in the city with cars parked nose to tail and the forthcoming trip hazards of cables snaking across the pavements.
Garages were a thing. Once. People used them to put their car in rather than filling them with junk or canoes, windsurfers and the like. In Manchester?

Look at old films of street scenes, I recall one of Eccles Greater Manchester with a gang of football crazy kids. I know those streets, there were half a dozen cars parked. At most. Now you cannot move for the horrible tin boxes.

Rant over. I am a one car family with a driveway and a garage.

This is very true. Not every family even had a car, but those that did had one not two or three like they do now. I mean folks have to remember that out of town supermarkets didn't exist until the mid to late seventies. People did their shopping locally. If you lived in the country (like I did) there were vans that came around on various days of the week selling this and that - the food came to you.

 

[sandys]

It's strange the way that people seem to think there is no other way but the car. If you even mention life without a car, they think, well, it's unthinkable, and yet we managed just fine up until the last thirty or forty years or so. Back in the 60's and 70's,there were cars but people just didn't see the need to use them that much.

Pretty much when you had a life that never left your village borders this was fine, that world is long dead.

 

[SpellowHouse]

Pretty much when you had a life that never left your village borders this was fine, that world is long dead.

Yes, and I don't think people would go back. But the truth is, there really isn't a need for all the daily travel. It just wrecks the environment and wastes peoples time - sat in cars all the time.

 

[sandys]

There is no would, people could not go back to that, invent the transporter from star trek and people won't need to use cars, until then there is no other choice.

I mean yes I could use public transport, if I wanted to waste even more time and be less productive, who wants that.

 

[Deleted User 298457]

There is no would, people could not go back to that, invent the transporter from star trek and people won't need to use cars, until then there is no other choice.

I mean yes I could use public transport, if I wanted to waste even more time and be less productive, who wants that.

Did you just describe a train?

 

[sandys]

Train, bus, bloody e-scooter no matter what you choose, my car is superior in everyway, its reliable, typically it is always there when I leave my house or office ..... always on time, doesn't require a half hour trek to get to it, keeps me dry and entertained, even in stop start terrible traffic, it is where I'd rather be.

Every commute I have had is quicker by car.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

People complain that back in the day that people only had one car or no car.

News flash:
towns used to resolve around local high streets, those are gone.
People used to be able to get good jobs in their immediate surroundings, they no longer exist.
Families only needed one person to work to earn a decent living, that’s not possible any more.
Cars used to be really expensive, they are now so much more accessible.

Everything is now centralised for efficiency these days, that means people require a relatively cheap means to get around to all these centralised locations, at times that suit them, be that for work, retail, entertainment or housing. It’s as simple as that.

 

[Deleted User 298457]

People complain that back in the day that people only had one car or no car.

News flash:
towns used to resolve around local high streets, those are gone.
People used to be able to get good jobs in their immediate surroundings, they no longer exist.
Families only needed one person to work to earn a decent living, that’s not possible any more.
Cars used to be really expensive, they are now so much more accessible.

Everything is now centralised for efficiency these days, that means people require a relatively cheap means to get around to all these centralised locations, at times that suit them, be that for work, retail, entertainment or housing. It’s as simple as that.

Don't forget people are priced out of locations near the local school, and both parents are often working to cover the mortgage and need a car each.

 

[theone8181]

Me and the mrs couldn't manage without 2 cars. I could get a bus to work but that would cost far more of my time, I then wouldn't be able to get the little monsters from school or take them to their pit of school activities pretty much every day of the week. Not sure what used to happen in olden times ( ) but if a family only had one car how do they deal with taking kids places if the parent with the car is at work? As above though its just not practical these days. I despise the bus as they are normally late, and due to where we live maybe only come by every hour.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

They didn’t do loads of after school activities and those that they did do were local.

There is definitely a thing about unnecessary local journeys but those aren’t usually on smart motorways E.g. parents dropping kits off at school which is less than 1 mile away.

 

[Rroff]

There was a family car. There were not his car and her car, there was not a sons or a daughters car leading up to a three or four car forecourt on a suburban street with a couple on the roadside if their mates turned up.
There were not every street in the city with cars parked nose to tail and the forthcoming trip hazards of cables snaking across the pavements.
Garages were a thing. Once. People used them to put their car in rather than filling them with junk or canoes, windsurfers and the like. In Manchester?

Look at old films of street scenes, I recall one of Eccles Greater Manchester with a gang of football crazy kids. I know those streets, there were half a dozen cars parked. At most. Now you cannot move for the horrible tin boxes.

Rant over. I am a one car family with a driveway and a garage.

One thing which does annoy me is the roads which are absolute chaos due to parked cars where the residents have both a garage and their own allocated off-street parking and don't use them; the garage is full of junk and they are renting out the parking space according to a colleague who lives at one example. The best bit is when roadworks were done at one example replacing the parked cars with a coned off area the residents were up in arms about how it made the road dangerous, etc.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

One thing which does annoy me is the roads which are absolute chaos due to parked cars where the residents have both a garage and their own allocated off-street parking and don't use them; the garage is full of junk and they are renting out the parking space according to a colleague who lives at one example. The best bit is when roadworks were done at one example replacing the parked cars with a coned off area the residents were up in arms about how it made the road dangerous, etc.

Have you tried parking a modern car inside a standard U.K. single garage?

I’d like to see you park your truck in one

I have a double garage and my car which isn’t particularly large and has at most 3cm clearance each side of the folded wing mirrors to get though the door opening. If the drivers side is next to the wall you can’t get out of the car.

 

[Rroff]

There is no would, people could not go back to that, invent the transporter from star trek and people won't need to use cars, until then there is no other choice.

I mean yes I could use public transport, if I wanted to waste even more time and be less productive, who wants that.

Indeed, it will take a fundamental shift in our way of life to realistically reduce car journeys - unnecessary ones make up a relatively small percentage of overall journeys now. Something which would make a large improvement in a more general context would be shifting cars to hybrid as soon as possible as a large amount of pollution comes from relatively short journeys (under 5 miles) where systems designed to reduce pollutants don't work as effectively and within range of smaller battery systems.

 

[Rroff]

Have you tried parking a modern car inside a standard U.K. single garage?

I’d like to see you park your truck in one

I have a double garage and my car which isn’t particularly large and has at most 3cm clearance each side of the folded wing mirrors to get though the door opening. If the drivers side is next to the wall you can’t get out of the car.

That is true for many new builds but many of the instances I'm talking about are older houses with a full size garage at the bottom of the garden or attached lean to garage. Though modern cars tend to be bigger overall a lot of people own stuff like Aygos and C2s, etc. these days. Fair enough most people I know who own new builds convert the garage to another room as it is too small for most cars.

My truck with the roof cars on is too tall for most garages it is actually not that wide at under 1.9m with the mirrors folded.

 

[sandys]

They didn’t do loads of after school activities and those that they did do were local.

There is definitely a thing about unnecessary local journeys but those aren’t usually on smart motorways E.g. parents dropping kits off at school which is less than 1 mile away.

I drop 3 carpooled kids keeping the number of cars down plus my own to school 5 miles away, schools in Bristol massively oversubscribed by hundreds, lucky to be that close, I then pop on the motorway to work, admittedly a small portion of a few miles but it is a smart section and works well, all done within the battery portion of my hybrid though, most days anyway, sometime I could do with a touch more battery, 50miles would be sweet, EV life, never know what you are going to get A big battery EV can suck up a bad day, a little PHEV not so much.



Will I make it home...just enough, there's always petrol

 

[Fuzz]

Me and the mrs couldn't manage without 2 cars. I could get a bus to work but that would cost far more of my time, I then wouldn't be able to get the little monsters from school or take them to their pit of school activities pretty much every day of the week. Not sure what used to happen in olden times ( ) but if a family only had one car how do they deal with taking kids places if the parent with the car is at work? As above though its just not practical these days. I despise the bus as they are normally late, and due to where we live maybe only come by every hour.

We kicked around the village green until parents got home.
or in my case, had chores on the farm to do like the slave child I was.

 

[jpaul]

Problem was the council sold of all the rec's where children used to get all the football activity, or, just playing kerby on the (emptyish) street, - cycling/walking to school w/o supervision of course;
schools had pools too.

 

[Buckster]

Has a nightmare with one on M25 the other week

When a lane is closed and a speed limit enforced are you meant to get an all clear running lane re-opened and confirmation of speed limit back to national speed limit, or is a blank sign all needed ?

Left running lane suddenly was stating was shut, variable speed limit went down to 50 then 40, then a fair way later a sign saying vehicle broken down in lane followed by a blank set of signs further on, queue me finding myself stuck in 2nd lane not knowing if lane was re opened or not and or if speed limit had been removed and before I knew it i had lorries undertaking in running lane at 50+ and finding it difficult to get across

If blank sign good enough how do you know it's not just faulty and not working you could shoot though the next speed camera 500 yards on at 70 and find actually still 40 just that sign was broken.

Same with knowing if lane has reopened or not you'd think there would be a positive confirmation all clear