How do we cut the number of vehicles on the roads in the U.K?

Question

An idea l have been toying with for some time now is a retest ,say every five years,and at the same time,a medical.The drivers who fail either would lose their licence.If you failed the driving test .you can retake. If you fail the medical ,thats your driving finished. l am an H.G.V driver,and something has to be done,there are too many vehicles on the roads,driven poorly by drivers who are taught to pass the driving test....but not taught how to drive,and more and more drivers who do not give a toss how they drive,or how it effects over drivers.

Answer 1

It's not difficult.  First of all figure out how you're going to survive without your vehicle.  That shouldn't take long considering the UK is such a small country with cities excellently equipped for public transport (no, really).  Next work out how much money you will save by not owning, taxing, maintaining, buying fuel for, getting ripped off by garage servicemen and buying insurance for your vehicle.  Public transport is much much cheaper than owning and driving a motor vehicle of your own.  Even if you have to do the occasional journey by taxi it still works out much cheaper over all.

You might want to get a trailer for your bicycle to carry the kids in or the odd item of luggage.

Then sell your motor vehicle.  You'll then have a happy carfree existence.  Furthermore the world will be able to breathe more easily.  Your children are less likely to get asthma.  You'll be less likely to suffer from heart disease.  If you ride a bicycle or walk you'll be able to eat more delicious food with calories in and you won't need to go to the gym any more.  There'll be less chance of you being involved in a road accident.  Road accidents are so common these days they don't get reported on the news.  Public transport accidents do because they are much rarer.

Then tell your friends and relatives.  They may want to follow suit.  The less people rely on privately owned vehicles the better public transport and cycle lanes will get.

Look what's happening in London.  More people are cycling and as a result other people cycle too.

I sold my last car 11 years ago and have not looked back since.  I lived in a village in rural Somerset for three of those years.

Answer 2

Drivers know how to drive but bloody motorist do not.

If subsequent governmemts in this country had spent the Road Fund Licence money on the roads and a better transport system instead of quangos and other wasteful things we would have had the best road network in Europe.

Should I travel to my place of work from my home by the existing transport I have to take two trains and two buses and I still have a walk on top of that.

How much simpler it is to jump into the car drive to the company car park, get out and walk into the office block.

If motorists have take further driving tests there will be MORE illigal drivers on our roads.

As an ex-transport manager (HGV) you have my sympathy.

On motorways I find the foreign HGV drivers do not give a toss for other road users when they change lanes without signalling. So we are not all to blame for shoddy driving.

Answer 3

all drivers taught by an instructor are taught to drive correctly but when they get there licence they do the most bizare things ,i am an instructor cars coaches and hgv's  and i know lots of hgv drivers that should be taken off the road as well as loads of coach or bus drivers ,i do agree with you that retesting should be done after an accident or every 10 years as the new photocard licence only lasts for 10 years and you have to update it with new photo's , i also think the licence should be graded so you can only get a full licence after 2 years and lots of motorway lessons

Answer 4

We don't; instead, we increase the number of vehicles on the road, adding to congestion and thus lowering average speed, which will make the roads safer.

It makes me laugh when drivers complain about the amount of traffic, when they themselves are contributing to it by their very presence.

Answer 5

Restrict the number of vehicles that can be owned in residential areas - 1 house (including blocks of flats) 1 car.

Answer 6

Get the HGV drivers off the road and send goods by rail as they did before Beeching got his hands on our railways.

Answer 7

stop leaving every tom d**k and harry into the country,, send a few  back with their cars  etc.....so a car with polish  no plates on wrong side of the road,,, oh dear,, maybe youll fail your medical  that will be one less driver on the road

Answer 8

Have the doctors who are terrorist blow up their cars with fuel explosives so that some people can get jobs in Tanzania and Medical jobs in the US and the British can say they got some terrorists and the terrorists can say they never needed the doctors and already have the bio terror ready to go but want to sell off their trash first.  The doctors were excellent drivers.

Answer 9

Cut The Number of Vehicles On The Roads,, in Britain  especially,,  by  ceasing the manufacture of said vehicles.  If the government allows manufacturers to progress and keep turning out  thousands of cars per week... the buying public and consumers are going to buy them.

The Government are to blame for this, and should  Make laws  suchs as -  Cars and Motorcycles on Weekends only.  or something silly like that.   They Know iot harming the environment, and ask us to help with Global warming.. why dont they write a law tackling this!

Answer 10

Without trying to sound like a Labour polititican (which I am not), road pricing does offer the best solution.

But!!!

The overall cost of motoring should not rise (reduction in road tax or petrol)

It should be zonal based, so you pay when you cross zones (so rat running is no cheaper and they should only track when you cross from one zone to another)

Off peak should be far cheaper so weekends/ nights becomes much cheaper, as the roads are empty in these periods

They should promise they will never use the system for speeding

Answer 11

I agree.

Too many people drive as though the aim is to get somewhere before everyone else.  They go too fast, hop from lane to lane, don't indicate, no lane disipline, show no curtesy...

When my FIL first became ill with dementia my MIL let him carry on driving.  In the end we had to take his keys away from both of them.

Neighbour cannot see to read his post, yet drives everywhere.

As a biker I am especially vulnerable.  I don't ride like a twit yet I would not take my kids on the bike because of the nutters out there who think they are playing a video game.

I think more than half the drivers would loose their licence.  Ofcourse their are still those who have no licence to start with...

Answer 12

Great idea.  Once all the HGV drivers are tested regularly,  given medicals and subsequently banned from the roads, because they will no doubt fail both,  there will be more room for the rest of us to drive in peace..  HGV drivers have got to be the unhealthiest looking group I have ever seen and they drive like they own the roads (as you obviously think you do) and are a danger to other road users.   We'd also spend less on repairs to the roads because it is the HGVs that cause most of the damage, have less congestion and fresher air.  Goods can easily be delivered by rail.

Answer 13

Ban thous who are just too shy and s****. to use public transport. For goodness sake many live/work within 100meters of public transport, but nawww.

That free up the roads with out doubt. Give people a Mileage allowance (not taxable Mr Broon) for them who are public shy.

Answer 14

put up the price of cars and petrol to a extent that people will value their cars.

Answer 15

If we are talking about reducing the total volume of traffic (as opposed to the number of rubbish drivers on the road), the best way would be for the government to heavily subsidise public transport to make it frequent, fast, clean, comfortable, punctual and otherwise far more user friendly than it is now. It could also do with being a lot cheaper, or even free. They could also then tax drivers more heavily, unless they can prove they really do need to use a car. I'm sure that significantly more people would use public transport if it was actually any good.

I agree with your idea too, it would certainly help on so many levels (although I think the 1000% insurance increase mentioned above is an excellent variant!).

Answer 16

More trains that run on time, and that don't cost a fortune to use, and that aren't affected by strikes every few weeks, would help.

Answer 17

It is NOT the number of vehicles...it is the number of poor / selfish driver.

Traffic can and DOES flow VERY well when drivers cooperate & keep flowing - But it only take one selfish k**b to block an intersection / roundabout (saving 30 seconds) and the flow is destroyed & traffic backs up for miles.

As an HGV driver I presume you are quite skilled - a mandatory 5 year test is an EXCELLENT idea, but not to remove the drivers licences - just hike up their insurance by 1000% as they are obviously a risk...help keep 'em off the roads by default!