Is the private motor car the worst ever invention?

First of all, the title of this post was in answer to a question put to the eminent historian A J P Taylor when asked what was the worst invention of the 20^th Century – without hesitation he said 'The private motor car' and if you think about it he is probably right.

I think in a way we would all agree with that as long as we could keep our own car and get rid of everybody else's.

Without the private motor car there would be no need for freeways/motorways which destroy all in their way; there is no aesthetic qualities to a motorway; they are purely functional and their one use is to get you in your private motor car somewhere quicker than it would take you to walk – or take a bus.

Without the private motor car we would all have to take a bus – or a plane - or even the heights of luxury on trains or ships and if you have read my posts of late you will know that I have recently travelled 5,000 miles by train and ship.

Of course the Queen wouldn't take a bus; she would have to travel in a horse drawn carriage together with the President.

Just look at the pictures on this page; at the top you have a row of Edwardian houses which are typical of the houses in the London suburbs; I am currently staying in one and the photo at the top of the page was taken from the door step.

These houses are very large inside with high ceilings, big rooms and small back gardens; I don't know how many square feet there are in them; in fact the owners probably don't know; in America they would know to the inch.

These streets were built before the popularity of the private motor car so no allowance has been made for it.

Look at this photo:

First of all let me tell my American friends that you can park on either side of the street in Britain; in America you have to park on the side of the street you drive on.

The street in the photo is full of parked cars; the street itself is about 150 yards long – maybe a little shorter – and there is no room for two cars to pass each other; so if you are half way along the street and the person coming the other way is half way along too, one of you has to reverse for about 60 yards.

Not much fun!!

I know you can see a few parking gaps but the photo was taken yesterday - Saturday; in the week there is hardly a space.

All this because of the private motor car.

So what can be done about it? Very little.

There are about 10 million cars in Great Britain (which is the island) with a population of people running around 60 million; that means that there are 50 million potential customers here to buy private motor cars – some of those 60 million are children, of course, but there are probably 2 million kids reaching the age of driving, 17, every year.

So the car ownership can only get worse.

People park in these streets, by the way, and go to the railway station around the corner to go into central London; some go to Heathrow Airport as the station around the corner gets you there in 20 minutes or so; sometimes people leave their cars for a few weeks whilst they go away on their holidays.

This could never happen in America as the streets have to be cleared for a two hour period every week for road sweeping – not here but it's about time.

Another thing is in America you are not allowed to take your car permanently to another state without registering it there; I think it's okay for a couple of weeks but when you move you have to have a state drivers' licence and vehicle tags for the state you are in.

It can't happen here as there is only one state. So somebody from the north of Scotland is quite entitled to park their car outside somebody's front door in Cornwall; as long as there's legal parking.

What they plan to do in Ealing, which is where the photos were taken, is introduce a permits only status around these streets but I can only say 'be careful what you wish for.'

If these streets wanted to accommodate the private motor car properly they should do a couple of things; firstly make them one way streets; this would put a stop to the 60 yard reverse for a start. It might encourage the boy racers to put their foot down, which would be a drawback.

Secondly: get rid of the front gardens at the front of the houses. They're tiny in any case, as you can see in this photo, which would widen the roads.Of course the local council would have to compensate the house owners – and where would they get that money from? Why from the council tax paid by house owners of course!!

Just a thought!!