The lunatics have taken over the asylum.

This is literally nothing new (apart from mentioning cycling at all...)!  De facto (and in many cases in rules / guidance) "roads are built for cars" - or rather "public space is devoted towards prioritising motor traffic and storage".

Compare and contrast:

UK - maximise motor traffic capacity consistent with safety.

NL - sustainable safety.  This has various formulations but probably amounts to maximising the efficient movement of people (and use of public space).  This also has to fit in with some pretty comprehensive environmental regulations including maximum noise limits in urban areas etc.

Note that the total NL version is much more comprehensive than "Vision Zero" - which always seems more of a slogan to me...

chrisonabike wrote:

This is literally nothing new (apart from mentioning cycling at all...)!  De facto (and in many cases in rules / guidance) "roads are built for cars" - or rather "public space is devoted towards prioritising motor traffic and storage".

Compare and contrast:

UK - maximise motor traffic capacity consistent with safety.

NL - sustainable safety.  This has various formulations but probably amounts to maximising the efficient movement of people (and use of public space).  This also has to fit in with some pretty comprehensive environmental regulations including maximum noise limits in urban areas etc.

Note that the total NL version is much more comprehensive than "Vision Zero" - which always seems more of a slogan to me...

I think that the UK is using "Vision Zero" not as a slogan, but as a shorthand mnemonic:

• Vision of everyone in a car all the time
• Zero effort to get people to walk or cycle

essexian wrote:

No, I don't want to go back to the good old days of rickets and pea soupers, but discouraging people from driving a few hundred metres when it would be possible to walk that far without issues, surely must be a good thing.

but also the 15 minute city is betetr for building a sense of community, when you see people you actually know when using facilities, becuase everyone is using their local facilities.

True. And, if you are walking, you are more likely to keep an eye out for one and other including the old, infirm and young, rather than rushing by at excessive speed thinking about only oneself. 

Frankly, I could not pick the person who lives three doors away out of a line up if pressed to do so: we have so little interaction in this street.... although I know their cat!

essexian wrote:

True. And, if you are walking, you are more likely to keep an eye out for one and other including the old, infirm and young, rather than rushing by at excessive speed thinking about only oneself. 

That's all well and good, but how are MPs supposed to get rich from that?

hawkinspeter wrote:

That's all well and good, but how are MPs supposed to get rich from that?

A Sidewalk Resource Expense Tax (an ARSE tax?) 

A Tax on Strava segments walked/ran/cycled?

Streetlights which can only be turned on my pressing a contactless phone/card against?

Tollgates on the pavements?

Restricting people to 10 miles walking per month and then charging £1 a yard thereafter: everyone would need to be tagged....tags which could be rented from one of their "friends."

There are ways.....

I think that the vast majority of us live within 15 minutes of various amenities. My last address had everything to hand and the car was kept for long journeys. My new address is pretty much the same.  The media and conspiracy theorists made such an issue of it being an infringement of rights that it has become impossible to spell out to some that you don't need to drive half a mile to get a paper.