SUVs make up more than 40% of new cars sold in the UK – while fully electric vehicles account for less than 2%

[Sasaferrato]

No, just killed as in dead. After all, once you’re dead, you don’t care how you died. The risk is mostly from road death, based on assumptions for how far people typically live from a shop. You’re unlikely to be killed on the road, but you’re even less likely to win the lottery!

I do my lottery online. Were I to do it at a shop, well, looking out of my window, I can see the shop which is about thirty yards away. They have a booze license now, and because of minimum pricing, their prices are the same as ASDA. This benefits Mary, I don't drink alcohol very often.

 

[Chz]

No you won't. Not unless they've changed f = ma somehow, and relocated the major organs of the human body from the top half to the bottom half.

Physics hasn't changed and yet the people inside the car stand a very good chance of not only surviving a high speed crash, but not having any life-altering injuries compared to 50 years ago.
Is it magic, do you think? Wizardry? Fairy dust?

And it's also willfully ignoring that half the battle is putting automated systems into place that stop the vehicle from hitting people in the first place. Volvo's showed off some really impressive stuff in the past couple years. Remember that pedestrian impacts by and large are not at extra-urban speeds and even lorries can stop in a very short space from 20mph. (20 limits in urban areas is totally a desirable thing, despite Sunak)

 

[MickiQ]

Physics hasn't changed and yet the people inside the car stand a very good chance of not only surviving a high speed crash, but not having any life-altering injuries compared to 50 years ago.
Is it magic, do you think? Wizardry? Fairy dust?

And it's also willfully ignoring that half the battle is putting automated systems into place that stop the vehicle from hitting people in the first place. Volvo's showed off some really impressive stuff in the past couple years. Remember that pedestrian impacts by and large are not at extra-urban speeds and even lorries can stop in a very short space from 20mph. (20 limits in urban areas is totally a desirable thing, despite Sunak)

My son's Golf has Front Assist on it, when he bought the salesman told that below 15-20mph it's impossible to hit the back of the car in front since the automatic braking would cut it and prevent it.
Son Q admits to having never had the bottle to put this claim to the test.

 

[Sasaferrato]

My son's Golf has Front Assist on it, when he bought the salesman told that below 15-20mph it's impossible to hit the back of the car in front since the automatic braking would cut it and prevent it.
Son Q admits to having never had the bottle to put this claim to the test.

Because I drive in an observant manner, assessing hazards before they occur, I couldn't tell you if the ABS on my car works or not, in two years I've never had to brake that hard.

 

[Chz]

Because I drive in an observant manner, assessing hazards before they occur, I couldn't tell you if the ABS on my car works or not, in two years I've never had to brake that hard.

I've driven in snow, so I know the ABS works. Traction control, too.
One does have to pay extra attention in adverse conditions, and I do, but it's very difficult to not occasionally skid in icy conditions. Your job is to make sure you're going slowly enough that it's not dangerous to do so. (Though I did once make a right through an intersection that had black ice in the middle of it, and that was just a case of sitting back and waiting for the car to stop spinning.)

 

[Sasaferrato]

I've driven in snow, so I know the ABS works. Traction control, too.
One does have to pay extra attention in adverse conditions, and I do, but it's very difficult to not occasionally skid in icy conditions. Your job is to make sure you're going slowly enough that it's not dangerous to do so. (Though I did once make a right through an intersection that had black ice in the middle of it, and that was just a case of sitting back and waiting for the car to stop spinning.)

I was in Berlin in the Winter of 1981- 82, where they decided that putting salt on the roads was harming the trees. The put down volcanic glass, which pounded into the ice, leaving a complete sheet of ice. Driving in that prepared you for driving in anything. After a 300 vehicle crash on the Avus, they used salt again. I was ambulance jockey the night of the accident, as there were British casualties, I was called out. Blue lights and siren, 20mph top speed. As it turned out the only injured British person was a Monkey with a broken finger.

 

[Jennaonthebeach]

My son's Golf has Front Assist on it, when he bought the salesman told that below 15-20mph it's impossible to hit the back of the car in front since the automatic braking would cut it and prevent it.
Son Q admits to having never had the bottle to put this claim to the test.

I was driving something last year that had a similar thing - I think it was a Kia. It slammed the brakes on after a car in front of me did the same. I wasn't that close tbh, and had been paying attention, so would have stopped in my own time. Bloody nuisance!!

 

[editor]

Piece in the Indy

The surge in popularity of Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) is reversing the progress made in reducing carbon pollution from new cars, the study by Possible found.

With the increasing popularity of SUVs in the UK, especially in urban areas, emissions from fossil-fueled cars are on the rise, leading to worsening climate crisis, the report noted.

The research also challenged the assumption that low-income motorists drove more polluting vehicles. It revealed that the wealthiest households were 81 per cent more likely to own super-heavy emitting cars compared to other income groups.

While the rich could afford electric vehicles, they were increasingly choosing high-emission SUVs. Around three-quarters of new SUVs and two-thirds of all large SUVs registered in the UK were in urban addresses, particularly in rich neighbourhoods like Kensington and Chelsea.

The surge in SUV popularity is not accidental. Industry-wide marketing drives have successfully nudged consumers towards these larger, more powerful vehicles, leading to a dominance of SUVs in the new car market, over smaller, more eco-friendly models.

Although EV sales have increased recently, SUVs remain a significant environmental concern and claim over 40 per cent of the market share in the UK.

For every Electric Vehicle (EV) sold in the UK by 2019, 37 new SUVs hit the roads, a report by the UK Energy Research Centre said.

“Thanks to profit-hungry car companies, we are now driving in the wrong direction when it comes to carbon emissions from new fossil-fuelled cars,” Leo Murray, co-director of climate charity Possible, said.

“In this crucial time, when emissions should be falling faster than ever, expensive SUVs are riding roughshod over what little progress we have made on transport emissions in the last decade.”

New SUVs are ‘reversing climate progress’ by emitting more pollution than old cars

Charity calls for more taxes on SUVs, making them more expensive to operate which would provide an incentive for consumers to choose greener options

www.independent.co.uk

 

[Chz]

Thanks to profit-hungry car companies, we are now driving in the wrong direction when it comes to carbon emissions from new fossil-fuelled cars

It's a bit rich to blame the car companies for people not buying enough electric cars. The last time I made a pitstop on the Autoroute in Normandy, the queue for chargers on a summer weekend was 3 deep per charger. Which doesn't sound bad, until you realise that it takes 40-50 minutes to get an 80% charge at best. They're also still too expensive, despite some serious efforts, to take over the low end of the market. We're getting close though - there are actually a few options in the £25-30k range, which there absolutely wasn't a few years back (unless you count quadricycles).

And once again blaming car companies for selling the cars that people want rather than what they deserve. Bastards.

 

[kebabking]

Our next door neighbour has a Tesla, which he likes. For driving day to day it's great, but for longer trips the infrastructure simply isn't there - they drove up to Aberdeen to get the sprog moved into uni: it's about 8 hours drive. The charging times (leaving here with a full charge), and waits at charging points took the journey to 14 hours...

On the way back he split the journey over two days - so ad in the cost of random hotel bills...

I'd love one - we've got solar panels, so it's free - but a car you can't use for holidays?

 

[editor]

Our next door neighbour has a Tesla, which he likes. For driving day to day it's great, but for longer trips the infrastructure simply isn't there - they drove up to Aberdeen to get the sprog moved into uni: it's about 8 hours drive. The charging times (leaving here with a full charge), and waits at charging points took the journey to 14 hours...

On the way back he split the journey over two days - so ad in the cost of random hotel bills...

I'd love one - we've got solar panels, so it's free - but a car you can't use for holidays?

Surely it would have been massively cheaper to book a collection and delivery service and got the train/coach to Aberdeen and back?

 

[kebabking]

Surely it would have been massively cheaper to book a collection and delivery service and got the train/coach to Aberdeen and back?

Doubt it - even with diesel at £1.65 or so you'd be looking at about £130 or so in fuel cost. You'd never get a single to Aberdeen, and a return to Aberdeen, for £120, let alone getting your gear sent up.

I'm lucky if I can get to Glasgow and back for less than £100, and my experience of the trip has been dismal - trains cancelled when you're on them, train crew finding out the train is cancelled from passengers, being left at stations (Preston twice, Carlisle once, Crewe once) on either Friday evenings or Sunday afternoons and it taking 2 hours plus for the train co to work out what they're going to do with you...

I dispair of it, it's - and I mean both the trains, and the electric charging infrastructure - just so unrelentingly shit.

Sprog is a proper environmental campaigner - she's in XR, and even refused to have driving lessons.. for her it was trains all the way. A year of trying to use them has cured her of that desire - now she drives up and down....

 

[newme]

Doubt it - even with diesel at £1.65 or so you'd be looking at about £130 or so in fuel cost. You'd never get a single to Aberdeen, and a return to Aberdeen, for £120, let alone getting your gear sent up.

I'm lucky if I can get to Glasgow and back for less than £100, and my experience of the trip has been dismal - trains cancelled when you're on them, train crew finding out the train is cancelled from passengers, being left at stations (Preston twice, Carlisle once, Crewe once) on either Friday evenings or Sunday afternoons and it taking 2 hours plus for the train co to work out what they're going to do with you...

I dispair of it, it's - and I mean both the trains, and the electric charging infrastructure - just so unrelentingly shit.

Sprog is a proper environmental campaigner - she's in XR, and even refused to have driving lessons.. for her it was trains all the way. A year of trying to use them has cured her of that desire - now she drives up and down....

The train costs seem to torpedo what should be the far better option very often. We had rail, car and a flight be cheaper than a taxi and a train. By a huge amount and 3 times the time. Thankfully we never took the trip at all which was better since work trip so best forget it anyway.

 

[kebabking]

The train costs seem to torpedo what should be the far better option very often. We had rail, car and a flight be cheaper than a taxi and a train. By a huge amount and 3 times the time. Thankfully we never took the trip at all which was better since work trip so best forget it anyway.

Sprog wanted to come back for a funeral - last minute job, she heard about it on the Wednesday night for Friday afternoon funeral. The train was about £300 return.

She could easily fly for £200, possibly £100 - she could probably do both legs by taxi for £500....

 

[Jennaonthebeach]

Surely it should have been massively cheaper to book a collection and delivery service and got the train/coach to Aberdeen and back?

Fixed.

 

[Looby]

Yeah I had to go to Newcastle recently at short notice and the train was hundreds so even with a stopover it was probably still cheaper and much easier to drive.
I’d have had to cross London with all my luggage otherwise and know I’d had ended up in a cab.

 

[MickiQ]

Went to Birmingham couple of weeks ago, £18 return plus £4.50 to park at Burton-on-Trent for 24hrs plus £4 for a return on the tram. This was actually competitive on paper with using the car it would have cost me about £20 for enough diesel plus £10 for the ULEZ plus whatever the parking would have been (If could have found any)
However I arrived at the station with plenty of time to catch the 10.30 train only to be told it had literally been cancelled at the last minute so I had to wait for the 11.52 to Cardiff, got on this train to hear an announcement that due to lack of drivers it would terminate at Birmingham New St. OK for me since that was where I was going but not I suspect for a lot of others.
Coming back The train to Burton pulled in and it was 7 cars long so they split 4 off to leave 3, there were at least a couple of hundred people including me that couldn't get on the damn train.
My choice was wait an hour for the next one (along with hundreds of others) however an helpful station worker said catch the 17.03 to Derby and then get a train back to Burton.
Got back to Derby, brief moment of light relief since they wouldn't let anyone off the train until 3 Transport Plod boarded the train and dragged this guy off in handcuffs. (I can understand his frustration)
The person I asked told me that I would still then have to wait an hour for a train back to Burton (10 mins ride away) so I ended up phoning Mrs Q who came to collect me and ended up driving me to Burton to get my own car back.

 

[PTK]

Has anyone noticed how large actual tractors are these days? They are certainly much larger than they were when I were a lad.

 

[kebabking]

Has anyone noticed how large actual tractors are these days? They are certainly much larger than they were when I were a lad.

Bigger fields, bigger and more complex Ag machinery, bigger tractors.

Bigger fields is more efficient in terms of crop yields, but shit for nature. Drive for better yields - which (broadly) means cheaper food products - came first, and tractors followed.

 

[hash tag]

it's difficult to see how they could limit the sales of a particular type of vehicle: a plan that would be full of potholes.

Soaring SUV sales in Ireland prompt calls from Green party for action

Data shows proportion of new cars sold in Ireland that are sport utility vehicles is higher than EU average

www.theguardian.com

 

[Rob Ray]

New vid just out from Not Just Bicycles doing a case study of a city that doesn't indulge the motor lobby. It's really quite a stunning difference, and one which should really make some of the enthusiasts on here pause to think a bit on the personal (let alone social) costs that can come with that focus our society has on individual convenience via cars.

 

[BristolEcho]

100's of tyres let down in Bristol over the weekend. Ad-blocker advised for the website.

Tyres deflated on more than 100 SUVs and 4x4s in Bristol overnight

The group say they are young people who know it will 'cause extreme frustration and resentment' but they are 'left with no other option'

www.google.com

 

[editor]

New vid just out from Not Just Bicycles doing a case study of a city that doesn't indulge the motor lobby. It's really quite a stunning difference, and one which should really make some of the enthusiasts on here pause to think a bit on the personal (let alone social) costs that can come with that focus our society has on individual convenience via cars.

SUV car nuts aren't interested in clean, safe, quiet streets.

 

[Mr Retro]

My son's Golf has Front Assist on it, when he bought the salesman told that below 15-20mph it's impossible to hit the back of the car in front since the automatic braking would cut it and prevent it.
Son Q admits to having never had the bottle to put this claim to the test.

My car saved me from going in the back of somebody a few years back. I was in rainy traffic crawling along. I was trying to change the sat nav. Nearest thankfully I’ve ever come to a shunt. Volvo XC60.

 

[editor]

My car saved me from going in the back of somebody a few years back. I was in rainy traffic crawling along. I was trying to change the sat nav. Nearest thankfully I’ve ever come to a shunt. Volvo XC60.

So you were driving without due care and attention then?

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

My car saved me from going in the back of somebody a few years back. I was in rainy traffic crawling along. I was trying to change the sat nav. Nearest thankfully I’ve ever come to a shunt. Volvo XC60.

So, you were driving like a twat.

 

[Mr Retro]

Driverless cars will come in like this, in the the driver safety aids. Our other car, a bmw, has lane assist. Reverse camera also a great driver aid. You can see around corners almost. Coming out soon is hands free driving in heavy traffic. Along with automatic parking on some cars we’re not far away at all from driverless.

 

[hash tag]

A driver aid should be assisting the driver and not the driver assisting the aid. As demonstrated, they can make you careless and Make you over reliant on aids, which Can cause you to lapse in concentration. Not good when driving.

 

[editor]

Fucking SUVs

Range-Rover slams into London bus stop, as nine people rushed to hospital with injuries and one arrested

Nine people have been rushed to hospital after a Range-Rover swerved off the road in central London before hitting a bus stop.

www.lbc.co.uk

 

[Silas Loom]

Driverless cars will come in like this, in the the driver safety aids. Our other car, a bmw, has lane assist. Reverse camera also a great driver aid. You can see around corners almost. Coming out soon is hands free driving in heavy traffic. Along with automatic parking on some cars we’re not far away at all from driverless.

Our electric jag has a feature which supposedly allows it to parallel park autonomously. We tried it, once. It decided that a nearby grass verge was preferable to the roadside and leaped towards it at alarming speed. Disabled it, never tried again, would view all such features with mistrust until they have bedded in for a generation.