John Redwood's Diary Posted: 05 Jul 2020 10:16 PM PDT
The car often gets a bad press. It is briefed against for not being green enough. The bad side effects brought on by accidents are not welcome, but all transport brings it with it deaths and injuries when things go wrong. Motorcycles and cycles bring risks, and there have been tragic public transport crashes.
The Covid 19 disaster has reminded us of the strengths of the car. You can travel in it without breathing over fellow passengers on a bus or train and without exposing yourself to infections from others. You can start near to your home and end near to your work or shop or other destination . The road network still offers considerable scope to get to where you want to go though it could be improved to cut accidents and ease flows through junctions.
The car offers individuals and families considerable travel freedom. It allows us to do a weekly shop and get the heavy goods home easily. It allows us to get to work and back, and to visit family and friends. Currently it allows us to reduce or remove our use of public transport as suggested by the guidance.
I am all in favour of experiment with different fuels, better exhausts, or higher safety standards. Each recent model generation of cars has improved safety features, better fuel efficiency and lower harmful exhaust waste. The important thing is to do this whilst keeping the popular characteristics of the car, the ability to go most places with a decent range.
My car always waits for me and will go as soon as I want to go. That is an important flexibility. true green policies need us to avoid so much congestion through bad road design and insufficient parking.
