New alternative way to use less fuel...
Discussion
This ended up as arant on the i8 review but thought it fitted better in it'sown post..
One thing that does P me off - is to get emissions / fuel down quickly I've got a much better idea - improve the road system. It's nearly 1am as a write this. Across Europe I bet there are over 1 million cars currently sitting at a red light, despite there being no other traffic on the road. Some of them are waiting to turn left (or right in Europe) or are waiting at an "improved" roundabout with staged lighting. We have to sit there and endure it. Simple - turn all the traffic lights off midnight till 6. Even the street lights. Not only will it save petrol but also electricty and get our council tax bills down. If you want to light your house / driveway to prevent crime you can do it yourself - if you choose.
During the day time it's just as bad. Probably 20 million cars at pedestrian crossings where the pedestrain crossed 40 seconds ago, and forced traffic calming measures blocking one side of the road causing 200m tail backs. And you aren't allowed to undertake on motorways depsite there being 300 cars per mile in the fast lane only 2 lorries per mile in the slow lane. I've actually been expermienting with this recently and once the traffic "stalls" ie. gets stuck at 50-70, it's just as fast sitting behind a lorry as it is getting in the queue. When I say sitting behind a lorry, I actually mean, getting into the empty lane due to not overtaking anyone, then finding out to my suprise my lane is actually going faster than the middle lane, which has 150 cars per mile, none going faster than 60. For some reason, depsite this being in the highway code and being totally legal (and middle lane hogging isn't) it really pisses people off - so they start tailgating, which is also illegal.
And I haven't even got onto why they don't just close off roads in city centres to save us the pain of sitting in traffic. Ever been to Prague? Peace tranquility. Brum which is near where I is innit, should be closed to cars from the middle ring road. Bull Ring carpark could be turned into more shops as that stretch from the Pagoda island is the worse piece of road in Britain. I don't live in Brum but woul dbe happy to drive to the edge and then get a tram/train or whatever to save stiing doing nothing apart from trying to make naughty words out of number plates.
Lastly - it's sounds a stupid idea but... why isn't it mandatory for all employers to register their staff on a national car sharing database. You wouldn't have to accept or share with anyone - just drive alone as normal. But - here's the reason, if 15% of people did it, then we'd have traffic the same as in school holidays as that's how many fewer cars are on the road. It's ok for you and me to be registered and keep declining as long as Hazel, who is struggling with the parking costs and fuel bills, and the bloke Steve from 2 streets away suddenely realise they are both commuting 30 miles to within 200 meteres of where each other works. I'd go into government just to make this last one happen if they don't listen. The key is making it compulsory to get the critical mass of matches. I'm registered on a couple of databases but usually get matches 5 miles away. Ain't gonna happen. In the past when I worked for a particularly large employer [who collect taxes in the UK ;-)] they had a scheme that was very successfull. Both times I've worked there I've found a match within 2 miles which on a 80 mile round trip is doable. Plus it meant I was happy to use the M6T on the way home as I was only paying every other day.
Ok, one more lastly... said employer was looking into congestion charging starting with HGVs but as a test bed for future use with passeneger cars. All got scrapped as it was seen as a vote loser. But how would you feel if we got rid of car tax and bought this in instead? I'd be happy - as I have more than 2 cars and planning on 3. I can only drive 1 at a time, but am paying tax on all 3. The Xtrail costs the most but I do less miles in it and usually only outside peak periods for tips to the dump or holidays etc. Road usage pricing (the offical name) seems a good way to me to get people off the road who don't need to be there at that time. We have enough road capacity for everyone to get to work or to visit the doctor / inlaws / school run, just not all at the same time. Probably just on motorways to start, but why not all roads? Downside I can see, it would mean "UK wide average traffic speed measuring" as they'd have number plate cameras everywhere. Bonus is the tax disc fiddlers would be out of a job. Ok they'd start cloning number plates but these would last about 3 hours as soon as the syustem picks up the fact a Red Astra Reg AB99CDE was in Bolton at 10am and then by 11am was in London. That's would normally get you a speeding ticket but in this case is obviously a clone.
One thing that does P me off - is to get emissions / fuel down quickly I've got a much better idea - improve the road system. It's nearly 1am as a write this. Across Europe I bet there are over 1 million cars currently sitting at a red light, despite there being no other traffic on the road. Some of them are waiting to turn left (or right in Europe) or are waiting at an "improved" roundabout with staged lighting. We have to sit there and endure it. Simple - turn all the traffic lights off midnight till 6. Even the street lights. Not only will it save petrol but also electricty and get our council tax bills down. If you want to light your house / driveway to prevent crime you can do it yourself - if you choose.
During the day time it's just as bad. Probably 20 million cars at pedestrian crossings where the pedestrain crossed 40 seconds ago, and forced traffic calming measures blocking one side of the road causing 200m tail backs. And you aren't allowed to undertake on motorways depsite there being 300 cars per mile in the fast lane only 2 lorries per mile in the slow lane. I've actually been expermienting with this recently and once the traffic "stalls" ie. gets stuck at 50-70, it's just as fast sitting behind a lorry as it is getting in the queue. When I say sitting behind a lorry, I actually mean, getting into the empty lane due to not overtaking anyone, then finding out to my suprise my lane is actually going faster than the middle lane, which has 150 cars per mile, none going faster than 60. For some reason, depsite this being in the highway code and being totally legal (and middle lane hogging isn't) it really pisses people off - so they start tailgating, which is also illegal.
And I haven't even got onto why they don't just close off roads in city centres to save us the pain of sitting in traffic. Ever been to Prague? Peace tranquility. Brum which is near where I is innit, should be closed to cars from the middle ring road. Bull Ring carpark could be turned into more shops as that stretch from the Pagoda island is the worse piece of road in Britain. I don't live in Brum but woul dbe happy to drive to the edge and then get a tram/train or whatever to save stiing doing nothing apart from trying to make naughty words out of number plates.
Lastly - it's sounds a stupid idea but... why isn't it mandatory for all employers to register their staff on a national car sharing database. You wouldn't have to accept or share with anyone - just drive alone as normal. But - here's the reason, if 15% of people did it, then we'd have traffic the same as in school holidays as that's how many fewer cars are on the road. It's ok for you and me to be registered and keep declining as long as Hazel, who is struggling with the parking costs and fuel bills, and the bloke Steve from 2 streets away suddenely realise they are both commuting 30 miles to within 200 meteres of where each other works. I'd go into government just to make this last one happen if they don't listen. The key is making it compulsory to get the critical mass of matches. I'm registered on a couple of databases but usually get matches 5 miles away. Ain't gonna happen. In the past when I worked for a particularly large employer [who collect taxes in the UK ;-)] they had a scheme that was very successfull. Both times I've worked there I've found a match within 2 miles which on a 80 mile round trip is doable. Plus it meant I was happy to use the M6T on the way home as I was only paying every other day.
Ok, one more lastly... said employer was looking into congestion charging starting with HGVs but as a test bed for future use with passeneger cars. All got scrapped as it was seen as a vote loser. But how would you feel if we got rid of car tax and bought this in instead? I'd be happy - as I have more than 2 cars and planning on 3. I can only drive 1 at a time, but am paying tax on all 3. The Xtrail costs the most but I do less miles in it and usually only outside peak periods for tips to the dump or holidays etc. Road usage pricing (the offical name) seems a good way to me to get people off the road who don't need to be there at that time. We have enough road capacity for everyone to get to work or to visit the doctor / inlaws / school run, just not all at the same time. Probably just on motorways to start, but why not all roads? Downside I can see, it would mean "UK wide average traffic speed measuring" as they'd have number plate cameras everywhere. Bonus is the tax disc fiddlers would be out of a job. Ok they'd start cloning number plates but these would last about 3 hours as soon as the syustem picks up the fact a Red Astra Reg AB99CDE was in Bolton at 10am and then by 11am was in London. That's would normally get you a speeding ticket but in this case is obviously a clone.
Try thinking along different lines;the government has no plans to increase Road efficiency, and why would they? The more you sit at traffic, the more you stop and start at lights, the more fuel you burn and the more tax you pay.
You are clearly delusional about the government's real motive and I assure you its not about reducing journey times or saving the planet.
If you want to pay low costs then build a 5kw SOLAR system and charge your ev from that. It won't be long before the government starts Road pricing as they will lose massive income from tax on fossil fuels when EV'S become main stream.
You are clearly delusional about the government's real motive and I assure you its not about reducing journey times or saving the planet.
If you want to pay low costs then build a 5kw SOLAR system and charge your ev from that. It won't be long before the government starts Road pricing as they will lose massive income from tax on fossil fuels when EV'S become main stream.
LordFlathead said:
Try thinking along different lines;the government has no plans to increase Road efficiency, and why would they? The more you sit at traffic, the more you stop and start at lights, the more fuel you burn and the more tax you pay.
You are clearly delusional about the government's real motive and I assure you its not about reducing journey times or saving the planet.
If you want to pay low costs then build a 5kw SOLAR system and charge your ev from that. It won't be long before the government starts Road pricing as they will lose massive income from tax on fossil fuels when EV'S become main stream.
thisYou are clearly delusional about the government's real motive and I assure you its not about reducing journey times or saving the planet.
If you want to pay low costs then build a 5kw SOLAR system and charge your ev from that. It won't be long before the government starts Road pricing as they will lose massive income from tax on fossil fuels when EV'S become main stream.
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