Let's bid Farewell to the Combustion Engine

After a week in the U.K. what is my abiding impression?

CARS! CARS! and more CARS!

Most of us have one ...some people may even own two or three. But isn't it about time we thought again about our dependence on this mode of transport? We have spent the past week in the U.K. without one. I admit that we have been dependent on other family members to transport us at times, and to help with shopping, but we have also done a lot of walking. Yesterday we walked into town from an outlying village. Frankly, it was frightening. The pavement was narrow, and cars whipped by us at frightening speed . What's more, traffic along this minor country road seemed constant. Anybody and everybody travels by car nowadays it would seem, and cars just become bigger and bigger. What's more new homes are built on the premise that everyone owns a car, so to-ing and fro-ing between our houses , workplaces and commerce is fairly constant. Our towns , cities and even the countryside are ruined by vehicle emissions, not to mention the toll it takes on our peace of mind.

As soon as we possibly could, we left the traffic behind on our walk, to follow the towpath that runs along the side of the recently restored Stroudwater canal. Suddenly we had entered another world, and as the noise of accelerating cars died away, the air was filled with the song of blackbirds and cooing of wood pigeons, and the tarmac gave way to banks of rose bay willowherb and tall rushes. We passed an old working mill building , one of many that line the five valleys of Stroud, and were reminded of a time when corn and later cotton were processed here. No need for noisy lorries to transport the goods! Flour and fabrics were transported silently away on magnificent canal barges.

As if to add insult to injury we had to re-join the busy main road to reach our final destination. Once more cars and lorries roared past us at high speed . But what was that painted at intervals along the road?

Judging by the figures painted in large circles along the road surface, a speed limit of 20M.P.H. is compulsory throughout the centre of Stroud. And were cars obeying these restrictions? Not a bit of it. The council may as well have saved the money it spent on labour and paint. For cars regularly accelerated past us at speeds of 50M.P.H. or perhaps even more.

Will electric cars be the answer?

So will the universal adoption of all-electric cars be the answer to traffic noise and more importantly the world's carbon emission problems? Toyota recently announced the invention of a new, easier to produce electric car battery, which will make their production more viable. But the answer to my question of course is a resounding NO! Today's Editorial in The Guardian newspaper, makes this very clear . Whilst electric cars are certainly welcome, the world cannot support all the resources needed for their manufacture . We have to consider other forms of mass transportation , and end our over reliance on the motor car. And more than that, we have to plan our towns differently, so that all the things we need like doctors, schools and work places are more closely linked in what has been named " fifteen minute cities."

If public transportation is the way forward, then we still have a lot to learn. I have to ask why oh why did it prove so difficult for us to travel from France to the U.K. by train? The connections are arduous, and the prices so steep, that flying seemed to be the only viable option. After our arrival we chose to walk where we could, but when attempting to take a short bus journey uphill in Wales, a matter of no more than three stops, we found that the fare was nearly £5 each...such an enormous disincentive. But some cities are getting things right. Bungalhuru in Southern India for example, has just offered free bus fares to all women and buses are already overcrowded. In my home city of Montpellier , the fifth tram line is currently under construction. and they are offering local residents many incentives to abandon their cars. More on this in my next blog!