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Britain's roads can't keep up with our cars

telegraph.co.uk

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Re: Britain's roads can't keep up with our cars

#11

Post by stuaxo »

mytailorisrich wrote: post #8

The main cause of heavier new cars is the weight of the batteries in EVs. If we're all going to get EVs, we're all going to put heavier cars on the road... Regarding size, my experience of UK roads and parking spaces is that the biggest issue is indeed the increased width of cars. In any case wider roads should be built if only to accomodate decent cycle lanes, which is also something touted as the way forward.

All cars have got bigger, some are just monsters in size that are the size of an older van.

Re: Britain's roads can't keep up with our cars

#12

Post by Pet_Ant »

rob74 wrote: post #9
Angostura wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

UK car tax is currently based on vehicle type- but it's based on CO2 emissions https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-tax-rate-tables typically this is related to weight/size - except in the case of electric vehicles which are heavier than their ICE counterparts

This (and tax subsidies) is the reason behind the proliferation of large plug-in-hybrid SUVs - being a plug-in hybrid lowers CO2 emissions (at least on paper), but in practice many/most owners will never actually charge the car, so the CO2 emissions will be even more unrealistic than they already are.

This doesn’t address needlessly large EVs that damage roads and are a threat to pedestrians and bicyclists. These larger EVs are also inefficient use of battery cells than they’d be in smaller vehicles. Would love to see more Mini/Smart car EVs

Re: Britain's roads can't keep up with our cars

#13

Post by jakub_g »

rob74 wrote: post #9
Angostura wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

UK car tax is currently based on vehicle type- but it's based on CO2 emissions https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-tax-rate-tables typically this is related to weight/size - except in the case of electric vehicles which are heavier than their ICE counterparts

This (and tax subsidies) is the reason behind the proliferation of large plug-in-hybrid SUVs - being a plug-in hybrid lowers CO2 emissions (at least on paper), but in practice many/most owners will never actually charge the car, so the CO2 emissions will be even more unrealistic than they already are.

Also, there was an article recently that (at least in US) the CO2 emission norms are not absolute but relative to car size; to the absurd point that to fit into the norms, it's easier to make the car bigger, rather than to lower the emissions of a smaller car. Hence, SUVs.

Re: Britain's roads can't keep up with our cars

#14

Post by mytailorisrich »

yrro wrote: post #2

Car size should be regulated and a maximum should be enforced. Pavement parking (and other antisocial forms of parking) should also be banned. In the UK, local authorities are in charge of parking enforcement. In Oxford they largely don't bother: I see vehicles parked on yellow lines every day. I can't fathom why, this is an opportunity to raise revenue!

Parking issues are caused by number of vehicles on the road and lack of planning. Many roads in the UK are very narrow with narrow pavements: There is no space to 'properly' park even if all cars are small-ish.

I have rarely seen roads with parked cars blocking half the road in Europe (at least in France) whereas this is common here in the UK.

Re: Britain's roads can't keep up with our cars

#15

Post by mytailorisrich »

Pet_Ant wrote: post #12
rob74 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This (and tax subsidies) is the reason behind the proliferation of large plug-in-hybrid SUVs - being a plug-in hybrid lowers CO2 emissions (at least on paper), but in practice many/most owners will never actually charge the car, so the CO2 emissions will be even more unrealistic than they already are.

This doesn’t address needlessly large EVs that damage roads and are a threat to pedestrians and bicyclists. These larger EVs are also inefficient use of battery cells than they’d be in smaller vehicles. Would love to see more Mini/Smart car EVs

A Tesla is heavier than a petrol Range Rover. All EVs are heavy.

Re: Britain's roads can't keep up with our cars

#17

Post by danw1979 »

Pet_Ant wrote: post #4
yrro wrote: post #2

Car size should be regulated and a maximum should be enforced. Pavement parking (and other antisocial forms of parking) should also be banned. In the UK, local authorities are in charge of parking enforcement. In Oxford they largely don't bother: I see vehicles parked on yellow lines every day. I can't fathom why, this is an opportunity to raise revenue!

An article shared recently said that road damage is weight^4. Make a car tax based on vehicle weight and the market takes care of itself. For the right classes (such as wheelchair accessible) it can be a tax write-off.

This is a great idea and would handily deal with the escalating “momentum war” between selfish drivers who buy the biggest, heaviest vehicle they can afford in order to be safer than their counterparts in a collision.

I’d propose we make the tax highly non-linear too…

Re: Britain's roads can't keep up with our cars

#19

Post by secretsatan »

mytailorisrich wrote: post #14
yrro wrote: post #2

Car size should be regulated and a maximum should be enforced. Pavement parking (and other antisocial forms of parking) should also be banned. In the UK, local authorities are in charge of parking enforcement. In Oxford they largely don't bother: I see vehicles parked on yellow lines every day. I can't fathom why, this is an opportunity to raise revenue!

Parking issues are caused by number of vehicles on the road and lack of planning. Many roads in the UK are very narrow with narrow pavements: There is no space to 'properly' park even if all cars are small-ish. I have rarely seen roads with parked cars blocking half the road in Europe (at least in France) whereas this is common here in the UK.

I'm not sure narrow roads in old cities are due to lack of planning, they didn't have crystal balls

Re: Britain's roads can't keep up with our cars

#20

Post by marcus_holmes »

mytailorisrich wrote: post #8

The main cause of heavier new cars is the weight of the batteries in EVs. If we're all going to get EVs, we're all going to put heavier cars on the road... Regarding size, my experience of UK roads and parking spaces is that the biggest issue is indeed the increased width of cars. In any case wider roads should be built if only to accomodate decent cycle lanes, which is also something touted as the way forward.

Building wider roads in the UK is going to be tricky. A lot of roads have no room to grow without knocking down the houses lining them.

Maybe the UK needs less roads?

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