Nothing has changed society and our way of life in the UK as much as the Automobile.
In the year that I was born there were 4 million registered cars on UK roads. That has shot up to a staggering 34 million by 2010, and is increasing every year. That’s half a car for every man, woman, and child in this country. We have managed for well over 2000 years without a personal means of travel other than a horse or donkey reserved for the rich and gentry. We were healthier, slimmer, fitter, and largely illness free. We ate fresh grown food produced either at home or within a few miles radius of our homes. We worked within walking distance of home, shopped in the village supporting local businesses, and we knew practically every one of our neighbours. Survival of the fittest, natural selection and not much need for the small towns we now accept as the local hospitals. We looked after our old folk at home without the need for care and nursing homes, just the occasional visit from the doctor.
So what happened? Initially a motor car was bought for pleasure, opening up the country to otherwise inaccessible or cost prohibitive places, also the choice of the place of work could be extended, and shopping could also be done further of field, with supermarkets buying in bulk to out compete the local shops, and opening out of town places with lots of free parking. This has since seen the demise of towns and cities due to limited and expensive parking, and roads not really designed to accommodate the motor car.
The pollution and congestion now being seen on our roads is causing more problems than Covid, and just simply cannot continue at its present rate. I’m not even going to mention the convoy of lorries stretching from Dover to Edinburgh, which are accumulating at an unsustainable rate. There are some big changes going to have to take place in the future and regression is in my opinion the only way forward. Return to community life, and grow your own, and support local farmers and industry by keeping it local where ever we can.
Being wheelchair dependent I rely on my car to get me everywhere. Taking the bus to go shopping for example is out of the question for me. No plans on getting an electric car as there are so few places here where you can recharge the batteries. I’ll stick to my low petrol consumption car as long as I can
Neither friend nor foe, I’d say, but individual mobility has become a necessity to some extent for which a car is not needed, though, except in rural areas. What you wrote about “the good old days” sounds a bit romanticised to me and is not due to the spread of automobiles alone.
“Healthier, slimmer, fitter”? Doesn’t life expectancy at that time tell us a different story? Didn’t people drop like flies?
“Fresh grown food”? In summer perhaps for those living in rural areas but it was not what we’d call a variety of fruit and vegetables. In winter people were starving and had a very monotonous diet that was not fresh at all. I’d say people had to work and shop locally and, thus, were also heavily dependent on employers and traders and at their mercy. I’m not in favour of applying the survival of the fittest- concept to human society. We had that once and the consequences are known.
The concentration process in the retail sector was not only caused by the automobile but would have happened anyway. The next big step in that process is online trading which was not induced by the automobile either.
The changes in life-style that you outlined were chiefly a result of the development of society with more and more capital being available and making inventions and changes possible but also of people’s convenience and expectations.
I agree that big changes will be unavoidable and ought to be implemented very soon. One element of that can be buying locally wherever possible. Why would apples have to be shipped all around the globe from NZ if they can be provided by local farmers? Would consumers be ready to accept ugly or less standardised food in this case so that we take a step closer to an environmentally sustainable food supply chain? Why would beer brewed in the north of a country also have to be offered in the south transported there by lorries? “Because we want it that way and there’s a demand for it”, people might say. Here it is again: people’s attitude and expectations.
As for individual mobility, if it’s to be maintained and I agree it is, then we need to find ways of reducing the carbon footprint. A mix of using electric cars, public transport, or e-bikes/bicycles besides conventional cars seems to be the solution for the foreseeable future.
I’d say more of a necessity, public transport is a joke , and expensive, folk need to travel more since most of our large employers have disappeared, or scaled down their workforce, cars are greener and safer than they’ve ever been.
For my wife and I, there can be no substitute for a gas engine car. Our one is a Suzuki and at zero annual road tax is obviously very fuel efficient. We do not cover a high annual mileage, so our contribution to the rising CO2 levels is minimal. If hydrogen for combustion was readily available, then I would consider the relatively simple conversion from petrol, but I doubt if this will be offered as there is too much big money tied up in electric cars and their batteries.
In the 21st C. we should all be living in high-rise blocks, a room with a view, with conveyor belts to take us here & there. The idea of us living in the sticks with a personal automobile is becoming more no no. There will still be wheels to take us to far flung spots to see how folk used to live, they will be shared/hired. It’s not going to happen overnight.
No, not pushing but you can get a government subsidy if you buy an electric car. Anyway with the lack of public charging points it’s not on the cards as far as I’m concerned.
There are plenty of things we can do to provide locally Dachs, our love of out of season foods must stop, it’s just ridiculous shipping food halfway around the world, it’s an expensive luxury we can do without. There are changes to society that did not originate from the rise of the motor car. But I believe most major changes were attributed to the private car hence this thread. Like it or not though, we can not continue down this path, congested roads, pollution and the energy wasted sourcing materials, building vehicles, and the fuel used driving them. There are some major changes coming concerning personal transport, it’s something that we can no longer afford, both environmentally and financially.
I’ve just bought a bike, which I am hoping to spend many a happy hour riding when I finally make the break and retire. The trouble is, riding on the road scares me to death. So, from my point of view as a prospective cyclist, the automobile is my enemy. The fewer there are on the roads, the better, as far as I’m concerned.
definately a friend. If I had not got one my next door neighbour some years ago would have died. His ladder slipped while cleaning an upstairs window and his hand went through the glass severing a good portion of his wrist.
Luckily i was there when it happened in my front garden. Cutting the story short on reaching the hospital i was told later on that another 5/10 minutes he would have died. Without my car and driving like an idiot!!!
He had 8 hours of surgery and umpteen pints of blood. The car was a life saver
One of the reasons my bike is languishing up in the loft Harbal, it was becoming a nightmare out on the roads, and Mrs Fox getting knocked off her bike and seriously injured didn’t help… There is the possibility that I might ride again when it get too much of a struggle to run, hence the bike still being in the loft and not flogged, but I fear Mrs Fox will never ride again…
Congratulations on being a hero, realspeed, but if your neighbour would stop going up ladders when he is obviously incompetent, and pay a window cleaner, you wouldn’t need to be polluting the atmosphere with your car.
Had you not had a vehicle and he would have died it would have been terrible realspeed, but what about all those people who died in similar circumstances before anyone had personal transport? All the lives saved since we all have mobile phones, there must have been millions of people who died when a mobile phone would have saved them? What about all the people who are still dying because nobody knew how to administer CPR…? We all do our best to save a life but we can only do that with our limited resources…You neighbour was lucky but not a reason to make a personal vehicle essential.
There is the possibility that I might ride again when it get too much of a struggle to run, hence the bike still being in the loft and not flogged, but I fear Mrs Fox will never ride again…
