‘The answer is fewer, smaller, cars’

• THERE’S something wrong in this photograph (above), but what is it?

Multiple choice answer:

a) The road is too narrow.

b) The pavement is too wide.

c) The car is too big.

d) There are too many cars.

The answer is c) and d) – the car is too big and there are too many cars.

Over the last 30 years the number of cars on our roads has almost doubled. Since the 1970s the average car has increased in size by some 50 per cent.

In terms of road space alone this is unsustainable: people on foot want their pavements back; people on bikes need safe routes to travel on; those drivers that are making essential journeys that can only be done by car (a small percentage of those currently on the roads) would like to do it without being stuck in jams.

So what’s the solution?

Multiple choice answer:

a) More, bigger cars; or

b) fewer, smaller cars.

And don’t say “c) electric cars” because electric cars (though vastly preferable to diesel and petrol cars) don’t solve the road space problem at all.

I hope you will agree that the answer is: b) fewer, smaller, cars.

Trouble is, the current trend is towards a) more, bigger, cars, which just brings more congestion and conflict.

With this trend, the only way to reclaim our road space is to make driving less convenient, encouraging drivers out of their cars and making roads more pleasant and safe for all.

NAME AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED, N1