Cleaner Enviroment

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Cleaner Enviroment

Postby jimmy1959 » Wed Jan 23, 2008 4:36 am

I can't help but notice that Glasgow district council has loads of these things in the street measuring the air quality. I just have to breath to tell it's bad. The thing is that they are being threatened with real heavy fines if they don't get the air in the city much cleaner. They brought out all these stupid by laws that are almost impossible to enforce like having car engines running when stationary. A better idea would be to employ a team that would target parts of the city at random and slap tickets on illeagally parked cars, like the ones that park on the pavements, double park, park on the zig zag lines at pedestrian crossings, parking on the speed ramps which means that anyone with a wheel chair or scooter cant cross the road at the point they are meant to. (they seem to think that if they put on their hazard lights then what they do is okay and legal but hazard lights are only meant to be used in emergencies and are not some kind of get out of jail free card) if these teams operated 24 hours a day and slapped tickets and even had these cars towed away there would be a lot of people giving up car ownership and as a result the air would be cleaner and the council would not get fined. I know there will be the usual imbiciles out there that will moan and groan that they need their cars but be honest unless you are badly disabled you don't really as man got on for tens of thousands of years without cars. It is only that they don't want to do without them as opposed as to they can't. on the subject of disabled drivers i passed a car yesterday that was parked in a disabled parking space, i looked in through the windscreen and it did have a disabled badge but the car was an M.G. sports car hardly appropriate for someone whose disabled.
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Re: Cleaner Enviroment

Postby Dexter St. Clair » Wed Jan 23, 2008 8:13 am

i looked in through the windscreen and it did have a disabled badge but the car was an M.G. sports car hardly appropriate for someone whose disabled.


David Murray should be driving one of these.

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The Bearsden paper was always full of letters from locals complaining about people who didnae look disabled having blue badges and getting free parking. I wrote in that the disabled should at least have the decency to crawl or maybe hop to and from their fancy cars.

I'd give my right arm to be disabled just to get a blue badge.
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Re: Cleaner Enviroment

Postby weasler » Wed Jan 23, 2008 11:06 am

First off Jimmy 1959, people aren't imbiciles just because they have a different opinion from you. I agree that there are a lot of very selfish drivers out there that dont care about where they park/drive/disturb other drivers/pedestrians but they are a small minority compared to the many drivers who do care about what they do when they get behind the wheel.

I am going to pick holes in what you are saying and give reasons why i think i need to drive and hopefully you can look at my opinion objectively as i have done with yours. I work in the city centre and have a relation that stays close to my work, so i can use her private parking space monday to Friday (to which i am gratefully thankful for). I live 10 miles away and my nearest train and bus to the city are a 15 minute walk away from my house, i could feasibly get into the town in 30 minutes by train and about 50 minutes by bus if they run on time(which is a bit hit and miss). I also have two kids that go to many clubs during the week which need me to drive them to.

So doing my mathematics here 30 min walking and at best 30 min train journey means that i would spend 1:30 hours a day travelling to and from work, whereby driving it is 1 hour(who's selfish now) to me this is a No Brainer. The bus journey is a lot longer at around 2:05 hours journey. so the saving per week in travelling is 2:30 hours(train) and 5:35 hours(Bus). Then there is the cost, I have a small engine vehicle and usually get by on 15 pounds a week fuel although it is starting to stretch to 20 every couple of weeks due to the Fuel hikes.

Lets consider the costs? I could get a weekly bus pass for around 15 pounds and train about 18 pounds(I think). I take my children to 5 different clubs/events each week which range from about two miles away till 8 miles away and this would cost more in public transport. I know you are going to say what about the other costs of keeping a car on the road? Can you really put a cost on being able to spend more time with your family not to mention the flexibilty of being there for other family and friends when in my case a few months ago was having to visit a very sick relative in hospital which would have been a nightmare given that i would have needed to get both train and bus to get there and the problems that come with that when you are deeply concerned for someone so ill.

I think that people should not blame the environmental problems on us car users and look in more detail of who provides us with the fuel that causes this polution. You are not telling me that in this day of great technology that the car producers and engineers cannot come up with a mass produced vehicle that not only runs on environmental fuel but also runs smoothly and more cost effective. Then again we are run by goverments that want to protect their precious oil company's.
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Re: Cleaner Enviroment

Postby elgee » Wed Jan 23, 2008 9:04 pm

Jimmy1959, what does A disabled person look like ? Who decides what is APPROPRIATE for a "disabled" person to drive ? Yes, you have guessed it, the PERSON. Disabilities come in all shapes and forms, please think on that.
Weasler, a very well put argument. I may steal some of it should it ever be necessary. ::):
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Re: Cleaner Enviroment

Postby BTJustice » Wed Jan 23, 2008 9:27 pm

I cant be arsed coming up with a reason, maybe I'm an imbicile but I drive because I want to and as far as I am aware this is a free country so tough.

I dont double park or drive dangerously but I really enjoy driving and my cars are a huge part of my life and my main hobby so tough again.

I live within the city boundry and work 5 minutes from my house. I drive because I can and I want to so go spin on that.

I have to put up with stupid raised brick crossings that are so high and badly designed the cause damage, fuel that is stupidly expensive, pedestrians that find looking both ways too hard (not surprising as they were too stupid to learn to drive) and smelly busses getting in my way so sorry, I have no sympathy.

And why shouldnt a disabled driver have an MG? Good on them for having a constructive hobby, better than moaning about people who dont think like themselfs.

Welcome to HG,

Dave.

P.S. Is the air really as bad as it was 20,30, 40 or 50 years ago? I dont think so, it just appears in the media more and wins votes
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Re: Cleaner Enviroment

Postby elgee » Wed Jan 23, 2008 9:35 pm

IMBECILE : an offensive term that DELIBERATELY insults somebody's intellect. (encarta dictionary) That is another point that annoyed me with that there yon post.
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Re: Cleaner Enviroment

Postby red_kola » Wed Jan 23, 2008 9:48 pm

** Updates 'things_which_annoy_elgee.xls' **
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Re: Cleaner Enviroment

Postby Luco » Wed Jan 23, 2008 10:02 pm

Was there a correlation you were trying to make in the air quality and people who park wrongly? Surely they would be switched off, unlike the hoardes of buses who trundle down various streets, ala Renfield and Glassford.
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Re: Cleaner Enviroment

Postby Josef » Thu Jan 24, 2008 7:41 pm

red_kola wrote:** Updates 'things_which_annoy_elgee.xls' **

Spreadsheet? It's an Oracle back-end you're wanting there, m'lad.
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Re: Cleaner Enviroment

Postby jimmy1959 » Thu Jan 24, 2008 7:45 pm

To all you drivers out there. I have nothing against cars its just the amount on the roads that annoy me and thats why i gave up driving in 1999. There are too many idiots on the roads now (Don't take offence by this as i know there are a small and i mean small percent who stick to the rules completely) and be honest how many drivers can say that they don't park illeagaly now and then if not on a regular basis. But back to the point, regarding the pollution that cars cause is causing the city council major concern as they are being told they will be facing fines that will amount to many millions of ponds if they don't get the air cleaner. Millions that they will pass on to us through massive and i mean massive rises in council tax. the air pollution in Glassgow is well over twice the acceptance rate. yes we did have pollution on this scale thirty or forty years ago due to industry as well as road traffic but in those days there wasn't the European union to contend with. Today industry is much cleaner in Glasgow probably because there isn't much of it left. but car ownership has doubled in the last thirty years and if you just look at the streets today you'll see that by the amount of illeagal parking that takes place, like double parking and parking on the pavements be it complely or partly its still against the law. Look at it this way if people sat in the middle of the road they would be arrested (if not hit by the traffic) as it is illeagal. The roads are for traffic and the pavements for pedestrians so motorists should respect that. its no good saying that they park there because there is no room for them to park elsewhere as that makes my point exactly. if you can't park your car in a lagal manner don't have a car. if what i have said annoys anyone that is most likely because they are one of the majority who don't care a fuck where they park or who it obstructs as long as they are okay and they don't get a ticket.
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Re: Cleaner Enviroment

Postby Lucky Poet » Thu Jan 24, 2008 7:50 pm

So, other than the poster's subject, argument and use of language everybody's cool, aye?
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Re: Cleaner Enviroment

Postby jimmy1959 » Thu Jan 24, 2008 8:02 pm

elgee wrote:IMBECILE : an offensive term that DELIBERATELY insults somebody's intellect. (encarta dictionary) That is another point that annoyed me with that there yon post.

Well elgee the point should not annoy you if you are not an imbecile only if you are, as i said that there would be the usual imbeciles who would moan and groan. so what are you saying , you are annoyed because you are an ibecile or you are annoyed because you don't like what i say about those who are imbeciles even though you are not one. You see what i mean i don't know which catagory you are but i assume you are in the not catagory as you don't make it clear why you are annoyed. but i don't mind you saying.
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Re: Cleaner Enviroment

Postby Josef » Thu Jan 24, 2008 8:08 pm

Jimmy, I don't drive, have never driven and will never drive. However, I don't think that illegal parking, annoying as it is, has any great relevance to pollution levels.

If I remember correctly from a long-ago read study, the most heavily polluted streets in Glasgow are Hope street and the like. The high levels are caused by the canyon effect: long, high, continuous buildings on fairly narrow streets with nowhere for the exhaust fumes to escape to.
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Re: Cleaner Enviroment

Postby John » Thu Jan 24, 2008 8:26 pm

Josef wrote:
red_kola wrote:** Updates 'things_which_annoy_elgee.xls' **

Spreadsheet? It's an Oracle back-end you're wanting there, m'lad.


I was having the very same thought when I saw you had beat me to it. I am considering registering the domain name though. :wink:
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Re: Cleaner Enviroment

Postby Josef » Thu Jan 24, 2008 10:12 pm

JohnR wrote:
Josef wrote:
red_kola wrote:** Updates 'things_which_annoy_elgee.xls' **

Spreadsheet? It's an Oracle back-end you're wanting there, m'lad.


I was having the very same thought when I saw you had beat me to it. I am considering registering the domain name though. :wink:


I did momentarily consider adding

Josef : Deputy head of Data Centres, HiddenGlasgow.com


at the foot of my original post in tribute to your good self :D .
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