Please share so we can make a formal statement to : Dear Patrick McLoughlin. Secretary of State for Transport Below is a link to a rather compressed version of my daily journey from work in Nottingham to my home in south Sheffield. You can see it’s reduced a two hour experience into just 2 minutes. There are reasons for this. If you had to sit twice daily, in your car for the whole 2 hours, you, like me, would become an angry person; unable to communicate effectively and rationally. You will become socially inept; unable to function on many levels as your whole day will be overwhelmed with traffic, roadworks and motorway delays. You will become that person which, not unreasonably, expects a basic quality of distance to time ratio; a happy person that enters their house to be greeted by family exclamations of “you’re home early Daddy” or “did you have a nice journey love? ………….Or even “who are you?” Well Mr McLoughlin, I have some answers for you. In fact I’ve spent an enormous amount of lifetime sitting in my car thinking about these. My 5 point plan. 1. ban HGVs on Sundays, as on mainland Europe, and some peak times on weekdays. This would free up the roads and make travel for both groups less combative and less risk of accidents etc.. 2. I would also make the cost of petrol or diesel less than some wines or coffee. At the moment I could fill my tank with either and pay less. 3. I would furthermore suggest that the Nottingham City Council stop charging me for my own Car Park space in the Nottingham Workplace Car Parking Levy which charges me £300 for a space on our own land. 4. Since the substantial cost of my motoring is wear & tear following short trips on Sheffield’s roads mostly now resembling the Sea of Tranquillity, I would insist that the authorities take responsibility to their tax payers and make lasting and permanent repairs. 5. Finally, when I leave for work and when I return , I never actually see anyone working on these roadworks, so I suggest that all works are carried out 24/7 and by more people. This way, rather than close a road network (as at Chesterfield) for 22 weeks, it would be completed in half the time? To be honest Mr McLoughlin, I don’t really know you but I’m sure you’re a reasonable sort of bloke. But can’t you see I’m a man on the edge? Do you think we will ever have a developing transport policy that ensures car users are treated fairly and, dare I say, humanly? I know there are terrible things happening around the world, but if I sit for 4 hours a day on my car, I can’t even contemplate doing much about them? I appreciate you have given me the unexpected opportunity to listen and grow to love The Archers on the radio at 7.03pm, but don’t forget, I could now listen to them anytime? Many thanks Phil Chester [email protected]
Posted on: Wed, 02 Oct 2013 08:39:50 +0000