The item that has provoked the most response in
AntiClockWise was certainly the article “Why I hate cars” in Issue 11. It seems
that there were, and are, lots of people who despise the wretched things, but
believed, as I did, that it was just a grudge that only they hold. Think again,
there is a lot of deep resentment out there.
As stated before, the problem is not merely that cars are
environmentally unfriendly, which is pretty obvious, but that they are a menace
to our safety; impose hierarchies on both car owners and non car owners; are a
major part of general traffic congestion; their demand for roads to run on
dictates the layout of our built environment in particular; they are the
ultimate in commodity fetishism; they alienate people from each other and
prevent any real interaction; and they are noisy, lethal, filthy and
unnecessary. Their role in our society is barely challenged.
Even Malcolm Rifkind, the Secretary of State at the
Department of Transport, has suddenly, and suspiciously dramatically, started
to investigate ways of reducing traffic. But rather than dreaming up ludicrous
schemes of road charges and incentives/penalties to persuade business to convey
freight by rail rather than road, public transport needs to be radically
transformed so that there can be no more arguments at all for public cars being
anywhere in sight in built up areas. Buses and trains need to be cheap, or
free, regular and cover a wider area more thoroughly. Initially, this could be
done quite easily in cities, where the area for public transport to cover is
relatively small. Apart from set bus routes, cities must be pedestrianised. Any
bright sparks planning to block off main roads into town or city centres, but
allowing access for emergency services, gets my support!
What about deliveries to shops etc.? Many city centre
already have restrictions on the times that deliveries can be made, something
like 5am to 7am only for essential deliveries may have to be allowed through
initially until some way round this is found.
Of course, we can support NO government solution to this, or
any other, problem because they will undoubtedly cock it up as usual, or bow to
the demands of business. Forget business. However, if the Tories, or whoever,
do insist on penalising company cars and reducing speed limits etc. then who
are we proles to argue …
… but remember that it was government’s assault on local
government that led to bus de-regulation and higher fares, and the Tories
demand for financial autonomy led to rail grants being slashed which led to
higher fares and presumably privatisation in the end. So in the caring face of
government we are actually presented with a many sided creature. The best
people to run public transport services are those who work for the bus
companies or British Rail, the best people to determine policy and practice are
the users and workers i.e. you and me, not any government.
Things must change – the remodelling of the environment is
an integral part of the proletarian revolution. We don’t need specialist
designers, architects and planners, telling us what is the latest en vogue
layout of built areas. More parks, less roads, no cars, the seizure of empty
buildings and space to do what we want with are essential. There is no point
saying that this is futile; get out of your armchair or office and wander round
the city, let you imagination go wild. IT IS ALL POSSIBLE. As Abbie Hoffman
said, “Change does not come from conformists”. Speak to other people, you will
soon find that they too are sick of the choking smog, risking life and limb to
cross the road, and are appalled at the reports of death after death on the
roads – if it was murder there would be an outcry, but because this carnage is
committed by our beloved cars there is barely a whimper of protest.
The price for doing nothing is too high. This can be an area
where we start to say “NO!” and take control of our environment.
[The 1991 Annual Abstract of Statistics shows that there
were 24,196,000 cars currently licensed in 1989; this has alarmingly increased
from 18,616,000 only 10 years earlier. The number of buses and coaches has
actually declined from 73,800 in 1978 to 72,400 in 1988. Hence, the
government’s war has been on public transport and not the private car. British
Rail has seen alarming cuts in stock, even the number of stations fell from
2,821 in 1979 to 2,485 a decade later. In 1989 5,373 people were killed in car
accidents, up on the previous year. 341,592 people were either killed or
injured in accidents on the roads, a level unsurpassed in the previous decade.
So much for traffic calming and safer roads.]
Driving Me Crazy
The following is an extract from a letter from Olivier
Large, a correspondent from France, on the subject of cars.
“I was so glad to find your article ‘Why I Hate Cars’. Here
are a few thoughts on the subject:
Cars make people aggressive (some years ago, someone killed
another person because this person was attempting to damage the car).
The car driver has a feeling of power (sure, he has power)
and feels superior to pedestrians and cyclists who therefore feel inferior and
insecure.
Car driver’s waste space: not only do they need parking
space at home, but also at work and in front of shops. Cars occupy space in an
authoritarian way, and non-car drivers feel excluded because pf the death
danger.
There is a contradiction between the speed limit laws and
the ads that promote the rapidity of cars.
An interesting comparison could be made between TV and cars.
Car drivers want to breathe fresh air, so highways and
parking lots are built in the countryside and in the mountains.
Children have nowhere to play: they can’t play at home (too
much noise) and they can’t play in the streets (too many cars). I’m no
psychologist, but I guess it engenders quite a frustration. Moreover, little
children don’t have the notion of danger; neither do they have any notion of
distance for something that moves. Hence the accidents.
The car is a barrier between adults and children. You become
an adult when you can drive.
Cars isolate people. They strengthen selfishness; most
people prefer their own little comforts in their cars (“Dire Straits on the
radio”) to the contact with other people on a bus.
Politicians prefer to build underground parking lots instead
of financially supporting public transport. But a free public transport would
solve many problems (less pollution, less accidents, more time saved etc.). I
know that there is a study that shows the building a few underground parking
lots (which is very expensive) is equivalent to financing public transport in
order to get a few years of free public transport. This is a matter of
politics.
One last thought, but more personal: I do prefer reading on
a bus or a train than wasting time driving.
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