Our personal transport is not designed for the real world

FORTY years ago I read ‘The new car is 50mm wider and 75 mm longer than the old.’ The process, known as upsizing has continued, and the latest vehicles are now half a metre wider and a metre longer.

The numbers of these large often huge vehicles has also increased restricting roads when parked and blocking narrow lanes.

You can’t blame the buyer; most probably don’t notice, and advertising (vast 4x4s racing across the empty wastes of Arizona) obscures the motoring reality (15mph stop start crawls).

Most cars are too powerful, many are now too large for the cities and much of our road space is used as car parks. Our personal transport seems designed for fantasies not reality.

Burning fuel (however ‘cleanly’) uses up our oxygen and causes pollution and almost all the fuel is wasted; in a large car about 1% transports the passengers (large electric cars are a little better, though the latest Tesla batteries weigh as much as an original Mini).

The problem is clear, too many people, cars and journeys; a situation encouraged by ‘planning’ which builds houses where there is little or no employment.

The sacred cow of market forces and choice has a value when space and raw materials are abundant and growth and development are possible, but that time has long passed in Britain, the growth model is broken …the problem is no one has developed a new one.

The new restricted Clean Air Zone shows that our council has recognised a problem (gold star) but their solution seems to tackle 5% of the wrong problem in a small area.

Perhaps the technology could be developed to progressively remove ‘wide’ (large, heavy, overpowered, polluting) cars from Bristol in the relatively short term without destroying either the economy or lifestyles. It sounds draconian but in practice small cars support a green agenda, reduce fuel imports, reduce pollution, ‘widen’ the roads at no cost, reduce queue lengths and improve safety.

Cliff Bond Bristol