That's an Autocar story. Autocar also tell us what the top 10 selling new cars for 2020 so far are. I don't know if it is good news or bad news that there are two SUVs in there. I'd have thought there would be more but it is still two too many. I also think that they chose the wrong sub-heading for that article - "We run through the latest new car registration data to see which models are flying off forecourts"
I am a non-believer. Have been since I think I worked it out in an RE Lesson when I was in the Sixth Form.
But this Coronavirus has had me questioning my lack of faith.
Only a bit though.
The World is in a mess. We have morons in charge of the US and Brazil. We have evil people in charge of China and Russia. We have a habitual liar in charge of the UK. We have pollution. We have plastics in the food chain. We have climate change - ice-caps melting. We have chaos in The Middle East. The Amazon Rainforest is being destroyed - that's the lungs of the Earth!
Nobody in power has taken any notice of Greta.
Even the supposedly good guys like Justin Trudeau have disappointed us:
So what would God do?
Invent something to shut down industry and get people to stop using their cars. Invent something that Trump and Bolsonaro will badly mishandle in a vain attempt to protect their economies.
Here is what my exit from the motorway on my way home looks a bit like now:
Except there are more traffic cones and less Hillman Avengers today than in that 1977 photo I found on Google Images. Thanks to whoever added that credit to it - I feel slightly less guilty about using it when there are credits. Is that a motorbike in the exit lane? - I guess it must be but it's very hard to work out.
Anyway, I've digressed. This whole Blog-Post is inspired by this BBC story about how the AA say "Coronavirus will transform UK work and travel."
They predict "a permanent reduction in the demand for travel because people have learned during the crisis to use home-working technology."
Don't forget videoconferencing. I would travel to the local hospital for a specific meeting once a month. For me, it was a 10 to 15 minute drive which isn't a biggie - other attendees had to come in from all over the county - but the parking was a nightmare and as our employers would recompense us for fuel - that recompense would come from NHS budgets. We used Zoom this time - the only disadvantage was no chocolate hobnobs - we'll probably continue doing it this way.
"The chancellor currently plans to spend £27bn to curb congestion on roads and £100bn on HS2 – but if demand falls, that may not be needed."
Indeed, especially as his magic money trees will have other priorities. AA President Edmund King agrees, "anecdotal evidence from people lucky enough to be working during the coronavirus-enforced lockdown suggests that infrastructure funds might be better spent on broadband to support home working."
AND - IT ALL HELPS TO SLOW DOWN ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE!
"Other experts are calling for the roads programme and HS2 rail project to be put on hold for a decade so ministers can be sure they’re not wasting money.
They say if commuters spend just one day a week working from home after the crisis - or commuting later - the roads will be as empty as they are in the school holidays."
Now, I know Michael Gove believes we have had enough of experts, but our government does seem to have started quoting them so maybe that's another effect of the virus.
As for HS2, this Jonathan Pie video is an excellent argument for cancelling it - maybe a postponement for a decade would be a step in the right direction - don't watch it if you're easily offended by sweary language:
And the effect that Coronavirus and the associated lockdowns are having on it.
For instance, average speeds in Los Angeles are 48 percent higher because there's so much less traffic on the roads while up in Seattle,
"on the key I-5 corridor, heading north-south into and out of downtown, traffic on March 18 was moving at speeds 100 percent faster than typical during the morning and afternoon commutes."
I've noticed a small but significant decrease in traffic on my commute. On the key M53 corridor, heading north-south into and out of Chester, traffic on March 24 was moving at speeds 1 percent faster than typical during the morning and afternoon commutes.
The C+D piece also comments on air travel and subway travel. Apparently,
"New York City, which features the nation’s lowest incidence of car ownership and the current highest number of COVID-19 cases, has (as of March 12) seen subway, commuter train, and bus ridership decline massively, with double-digit drops."
The two things I take from that are:
I feel sorry for New-Yorkers for two reasons in the first sentence.
Apparently, according to The RAC, traffic was going to peak between 4pm and 6pm this afternoon/evening due to us England fans commuting home in time for our semi-final against Croatia.
I was one of those commuters and didn't notice any extra traffic on the bit of motorway I was using.
I did notice us lose to Croatia though - this makes me mostly Welsh again.
The English boys have done their country proud though - they are only young and they got a lot further than most would have thought possible which bodes well for future competitions.
Meanwhile, Croatia is the home of Rimac - manufacturer of electric supercars like the Concept One:
Which looks a lot better before an Englishman crashes it:
Reading The National (everyone's favourite United Arab Emirates Website) this weeks shows us that Dubai has a bit of a problem in that their traffic has become less of this...
...and more of this...
Hence this story from Saturday where a municipal chief is proposing that only people at a certain salary level and above will be allowed to own cars.
Everyone else has to use public transport.
I bet he wouldn't use public transport.
Admittedly, this is only one proposal - but it is the one that has caught the most attention.
He does also say that parking, petrol and other such costs should alos go up. I tend to agree with this but mostly because I am jealous of them paying about a meagre 30p for a litre of fuel.
He also wants to promote greener methods of getting about promising to put more investment in trams and posh buses - slightly surprising from an oil-rich nation.
He may want a word with Maj Gen Mohammed Saif Al Zafeen, director of the Dubai Police Traffic Department and head of the council though. In this story from yesterday. The modern Major General is proposing more drivers - 17 year-old ones.
