According to a recent BBC report, London remains the world's most congested city. Whilst progress is being made - slowly - in reducing car use, to really tackle this problem and promote active travel, we have to start dismantling car culture.
On a practical level, this means several things.
Firstly, we have to remove and deprioritise the infrastructure that goes with cars. 41% of households in London have no car at all, yet driving in the city is still far too prominent. Despite the proliferation of LTNs - around which, incidentally, congestion is a myth (see below) - roads still account for 12.4% of land use in our capital. Just 8.8% of land is used for housing.
However, road building is still continuing. Right now, work is underway to build the Silvertown Tunnel (scheduled to open in 2025), which will be inaccessible to both cyclists and pedestrians. The two London boroughs it will connect both oppose it and yet the work goes on. All such projects need to stop. Now.
But the problem of car use is perpetuated not just by new infrastructure, but by a vicious cycle of falling car use - created by new sustainable transport options - leaving roads clearer; this, in turn, induces increased demand because quieter roads, like new roads or additional lanes, simply encourage more people to drive again.
The only effective way to break this cycle is for car infrastructure to be dismantled alongside the provision of new, greener alternatives. This means making roads narrower, replacing car lanes with bus and bike ones, removing car parking and implementing ever greater numbers of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods.
But we also need to do our bit as individuals. When so many of us live a cyclable distance from work, why aren't more of us getting on our bikes?
And why are we adding to the problems of biodiversity and flooding by building over our front gardens?
It's clear that infrastructure aside, cars have a psychological hold over our society, which also needs to be tackled. All of these things are related to the assumptions we make about cars and their role in our lives.
Researchers have dubbed drivers' acceptance of the dangers and environmental impact of driving as "motonormativity". The big downside is that it means that we, as individual members of society, as well as our political leaders, are less likely to try to tackle the negative impacts of cars.
Electric Vehicles
Let me say it again: EVs are not the answer.
Electric cars are still cars and their battery requirements mean they're not as green as we're led to believe.
Yorumlar