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Does this give the right to anyone who drives a smaller car to do this sort of thing to vans.
Yes,. I drive an Aygo have the right to vandalise any bigger cars (which is most cars) but I will need to watch out for attacks from those even smaller and more efficient cars.
SUVs are a tired cliche to hate, mainly driven by jealousy
Yup I'm super jealous of how they can barely fit along small Lake District roads, and seemingly can't be driven even a centimetre into the verge. Looks super useful.
When I got together with my missus she drove an AMG Mercedes, then a Range Rover Velar, then a Porsche Cayenne. Now she drives my Berlingo 😆
My 60 reg CRV does a considerably better mpg than a petrol ford focus owned by the girlfriend
But a Honda Civic built on the same platform with the same engine does approx 20 more miles/gallon. (I own a CRV)
I’m intrigued by the pharmacist who claims he needs a Land Rover to do his job in Stirlingshire.
Making deliveries to remote households?
But a Honda Civic built on the same platform with the same engine does approx 20 more miles/gallon. (I own a CRV)
Quite likely, but the comparator isn't a civic it's all other cars. Plenty guzzle a lot more fuel
The reality is they’re not changing a thing,
If it maybe makes people think twice before buying an SUV then it's achieving something?
If they really cared, they would go around inflating tyres.
Someone not Ito cars/ or who doesn’t drive particularly enthusiastically can probably get down to 15psi before they notice the handling or the appearance of the tyre.
Do that to every car in the country, and reduce the emissions. All for the cost of literally the air around us.
They won’t, because they like showing off and making a point, more than the actual results.
Unless you jump in and drive off without realising and bugger them up!
If you dont notice 4 flat tyres then maybe driving isnt for you.
People's reactions to this are interesting.
In the grand scheme of things a few tyres let down on pricier cars is a targeted inconveniencing of a few (presumably) wealthier people. Nobody was hurt, nothing was actually damaged. Some air was liberated, but you'd think they'd actually destroyed the cars from some responses...
It would appear COP26 has achieved less than the hype promised. And the public's general awareness of climate issues or what they can personally do is?
Still a bit meh, we've had the periodic jabber about it in the news, let's be honest nobody's significantly changing their habits... The rich and influential gathered ostensibly to solve a known and increasingly urgent issue and failed, why should anyone else do anything?
Dare I say it, those with the ability to do more personally, today are in the higher income brackets. The steps on offer tend to be a more expensive versions of the relative luxury already enjoyed by the upper income brackets: Ditch the Range Rover for a Tesla, replace your gas boiler with a leccy one and pay more for home heating, choose the more locally produced food options often more expensive than foreign imports, take an extra week off this summer and train it with the kids instead of flying?
Climate change and wealth inequalities are intrinsically linked, those that consume the most are the ones with greatest ability to change and understandably they are quite resistant to changing their own standard of living for the greater good.
Pointing out that they drive more polluting vehicles, by simply letting down their tyres isn't the most outrageous sort of action, who knows if it will have any effect.
I’m intrigued by the pharmacist who claims he needs a Land Rover to do his job in Stirlingshire. I’m struggling to think of pharmacies that are off a main road
Pharmacists don't just stay in their shop, but have to deliver things like oxygen cylinders to house-bound elderly patients who could be anywhere within their catchment area. I would imagine rural areas of Stirlingshire could get quite interesting in winter condition. I don't imagine asking them to hold their breath until the snow cleared would go down well...
SUVs are a tired cliche to hate, mainly driven by jealousy
What an insight. Do SUV drivers in massive Range Rovers and Q7's etc really drive around thinking everyone is jealous of them?
I'm kind of torn on this. I see their point but messing with other peoples vehicles is not cool*
Something should be done to reverse the SUV trend though, I struggle to understand why some of them even exist. X6 I'm looking at you, then bleaching my eyes.
Cars have actually gotten a good deal more efficient over the last 20 years, but this increase in efficiency has been wiped out by the increase in vehicle weight which is being driven by the fashion for SUVs. I see it daily when I walk by daughter to get the school bus. The School Run Mums are in Tiguans where a few years ago they would have been in Polos or Fiestas.
Punitive taxation for anything over 1,500kg, scaling again after 2,000kg - this lets smaller SUVs off the hook, which is fair as if its about emissions and environmental impact rather than a specific body type. Damage to roads is also proportionate to the 4th power of axle weight so heavier vehicles should pay more anyway.
*Unless they are parked on the pavement, in which case have at them.
I'm pretty torn on this one tbh. I own a pick up which gets used off road fairly regularly and carries loads I couldn't put in a car. But I'm probably in a minority of folk who actually use these things for what they were intended. However, as it's my only vehicle, realistically probably 80%+ of the miles I drive are on road. I hate the fact it is so inefficient but there really isn't anything else out there that would do what I need. The problem is:
munrobiker
Free Member
You could rent something bigger as and when you need it.
This just isn't an option. I can't hire a 4x4 at short notice for short periods and return it covered in mud and filthy in the back. It's not like a city car scheme or Boris Bikes.
SUVs are a soft target for people to make a noise. In the west I am led to believe that having an extra child will have a bigger carbon footprint than anyone saves by switching cars, ditching the gas boiler etc. I expect they'd have got a whole lot less support if they'd gone round deflating the tyres of vehicles with multiple child seats in them.
or...
climate change is a complex thing driven by multiple factors. Everyone can make a small change that will be easy for their individual circumstances whether that's eating differently, travelling differently, working differently. Just because you can make one of those changes doesn't mean that it's so easy for everyone else, but if they change something different then it's still going in the right direction. Alienating people because they don't choose to change one thing that you're passionate about could make them less likely to change other things that still align with your overall cause.
Way to bring people to your cause, let down their tires!
I don't drive a SUV, my Wife does, it's FWD and smaller and lighter than my 4WD saloon. I'd enjoy slapping the taste out of the mouth of anyone who thinks it's okay to let the tyres down on someone else's car.
Punitive taxation for anything over 1,500kg, scaling again after 2,000kg – this lets smaller SUVs off the hook
Sounds great, but... People driving enormous cars with enormous thirsty engines already spend enormous amounts of money on them.
I would suggest the emissions based tax classes already kind of take this vehicle weight thing into effect. Although it doesn't go far enough. Maybe we should couple that emissions tax class to miles driven.
Own a honking great 4 litre BMW Xsomethingorother, driven 20000 miles/year? that demands loads and loads and loads of tax.
Own a 8 litre porsche fun car for weekends, driven for about 200 miles/year? almost no tax.
Battery powered commuter scooter? 50p please.
Etc.
As there is very little co2 in the earths atmosphere I don't get all the push on reduction? If the climate is changing it can't be down to co2. It is estimated that co2 accounts for 0.04% of the earths atmosphere.
From National Geographic:
Earth’s atmosphere is composed of about 78 percent nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen, 0.9 percent argon, and 0.1 percent other gases. Trace amounts of carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor, and neon are some of the other gases that make up the remaining 0.1 percent.
Here: https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/atmosphere/
Maybe we should couple that emissions tax class to miles driven.
maybe we could tax the fuel?
would be fairly proportial to pollution/consumtion, taking into account miles driven and vehicle efficiency?
It's an utter dick move and not cool at all. Block roads by all means but messing about with people's property, potentially making it un-roadworthy is bang out of order.
I would be amazed if it made one single person targeted more sympathetic to the vandals cause and imagine it will have the opposite effect. Well done.
My brothers mother-in-law had the tyres on her Vauxhall Mokka let down. Cue another pointless car journey from the AA to come and pump them up as she’s about 75 and can’t do it. Yay.
I think they protestors targeted their actions quite well.
Out of the 60 cars they disabled, the biggest sob story the BBC could find was a pharmacist who was 45 minutes late for work.
I mean, he would have been later if he didn't have a pump. If he hadn't had access to a pump he could have been hours late which could have affected patients. I guess whenever he has a cold his patients just have to suffer and die without his essential services.
Yeah, I think we can safely say most SUVs in the West End of Glasgow aren't 'necessary' for anything other than keeping Tarquin and Isolde safe when Mum or Dad can't be bothered paying attention to the road and crash into a Ford Focus.
If we needed to do that and some arsehole had let the tyres down because they had decided that we shouldn’t be allowed to drive it, then they’d be regretting it for the rest of their existence.
Ooh, you sound like Muhammad 'I'm Hard' Bruce Lee. I, for one, would like to hear more about how you would cause them regret for the rest of their existence.
I'd also like to hear more about how became so hard. You must be some kind of martial arts expert giant of a man to be so confident in your pain causing abilities.
Straight from the insulate Britain school of how to win people over. People don't care that SUVs tend to be heavier and less environmentally friendly. They know this and they buy them anyway. A little note shaming them and a one off inconvenience isn't going to change their minds.
@dallas95 - not sure if that's a serious post, but have a read of this
https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2021/02/25/carbon-dioxide-cause-global-warming/
I’d enjoy slapping the taste out of the mouth of anyone who thinks it’s okay to let the tyres down on someone else’s car.
Wow, this thread is really bringing the internet hard men out of the woodwork.
Normally you have to talk about kicking someone's dog to get this kind of reaction.
Ditch the Range Rover for a Tesla
um what wonderful bit of science led you to believe that buying a Tesla would turn you into an eco warrior?
This fallacy that EV is the must go route is ridiculous, it fails to address the upfront carbon cost, where the electricity comes from (and no the UK is not as green as a lot of people make believe and you can exclude Nuclear), and the recyclability at it’s end of life. EV is good for local air quality and for a long, long term goal, but not for the next 20 years..
Back on point though, this is pure vandalism non-one has the right to make someone else’s day hard just because they feel they have a moral right to do so..
I’d enjoy slapping the taste out of the mouth of anyone who thinks it’s okay to let the tyres down on someone else’s car.
Wow, this thread is really bringing the internet hard men out of the woodwork.
Normally you have to talk about kicking someone’s dog to get this kind of reaction.
Do you want some do you? 😉
Anyone who says they have to have an SUV because “horses” needs to take a long hard look at their integrity. Just admit it’s a want and if you’re ok with that crack on. But down get shirty with folk who point out your impact on the environment.
Do you want some do you? 😉
Yes.
Full disclosure, I will be deriving sexual gratification from the pain you inflict so I may make some unusual noises during our exchange. Don't be perturbed, just keep going.
How many of those cars will use a plug in tyre inflator to pump the tyres up? Don't they need the engine running to work off the car's power socket? If so the activists have caused additional emmissions
Maybe we should couple that emissions tax class to miles driven.
maybe we could tax the fuel?
would be fairly proportial to pollution/consumtion, taking into account miles driven and vehicle efficiency?
Again that is unfair on rural communities that *have* to do some miles just to get around and do life.
This fallacy that EV is the must go route is ridiculous, it fails to address
I think these things are widely recognised and understood, and EVs are still a better choice for when you need a new car, rather than for when you just fancy one.
But you have to consider people's behaviours and the freedoms they have. People do buy new cars anyway when there's nothing wrong with their old one, you're going to struggle to stop them doing that.
People do buy new cars anyway when there’s nothing wrong with their old one, you’re going to struggle to stop them doing that.
Good point - lets all deflate the tyres of all < 2 years old cars...
SUVs are a soft target for people to make a noise. In the west I am led to believe that having an extra child will have a bigger carbon footprint than anyone saves by switching cars, ditching the gas boiler etc.
I think the thing is that the choice to not have a child and the choice to not have an SUV/gas boiler are not equivalent. I can't see myself looking back in 20 years time wishing I had bought a ford kuga...
Do you want some do you? 😉
Yes.
Full disclosure, I will be deriving sexual gratification from the pain you inflict so I may make some unusual noises during our exchange. Don’t be perturbed, just keep going.
Really? Nice. Do you want to join a club? It's very discreet.
Something should be done to reverse the SUV trend though
I remember after living in Canada for 6 months 20 years ago coming back and really noticing how much smaller all our cars were than all the trucks etc over there.
Don't think I'd notice much difference now (or maybe theirs have got bigger still at the same rate?). Environmental cost aside they also have much bigger roads than us. These giant Q7s and such are an absolute pain on small country roads.
Yes Munrobiker. Well said.
APF
No problem here, earth-dwellers.
The sanctity of property is equal only to the sanctity of personal freedom of choice and both trump any possible impact either have on the future of the planet.
Nobody should do anything ever unless every possible edge case has been satisfied and every single person agrees with and approves of the idea.
Gentle, agreeable persuasion that will bring everyone on board with zero inconvenience for anyone is a proven method for delivering change within human societies.
The memory of our personal choice luxury will keep our children warm when they have no choices left.
DON'T TOUCH MY CAR!!
These giant Q7s and such are an absolute pain on small country roads.
I don't understand why anyone gets that size of car (same as the Merc GLE, BMW X5 etc) - there must be so many places they are a real hinderance. A couple of years ago I saw a Q7 stuck in a car park at Newcastle Central Travelodge. TBF there were big signs up warning drivers of larger cars not to use that floor because of access issues so they deserved it LOL!
God this thread is so depressing.
We all need to do more and the standard British exceptionalism clause is just bullshit. We are all hypocrites. None of us is doing enough.
The real ‘news’ out of CoP is that our politicians have yet again failed to deliver on their promises and we are sleepwalking into disaster. We are past the point planning and in the need to ****ing do something about.
But keep trying to justify why you are part of the problem (and not part of the solution) because, well, because.
I reckon the only way we have cat in hell's chance of reducing the impact of climate change is a combination of grown-up government policy (so good luck with that) and making the kind of lifestyle changes we all need to adopt mainstream, socially acceptable behaviour.
Letting down the tyres of random members of the public and gluing yourself to roads gets you in the papers, but the impression it leaves on the wider public is that climate change activism is the concern of a lunatic fringe. Tokenism for the sake of self-satisfaction rather than really making a difference I'm afraid.
Wait until everyone catches on that electric cars are not that sustainable either.
(Sorry for the link)
I'm not really surprised by a lot of the responses on here, but it does remind me why I haven't bothered contributing to much on here of late (or even reading that much).
I get it, SUVs are bad. I've driven a few borrowed ones in my time and I kind of see the appeal, but I wouldn't want to own one as a) I care about the environment; b) wouldn't want the ridiculous fuel costs; and c) they're no fun to drive (apart from actually driving them off road, where most of them really aren't that good anyway).
So sure, for the majority of SUV owners it is nothing more than a status symbol. Maybe that says other things about their personality, or maybe they just haven't thought about or don't understand the impact of their choice of vehicle. Or maybe, just maybe, they do have a semi-valid reason for having one. Who knows.
However, letting tyres down is a dick move. I'd expect that sort of thing from scrotes out to do nothing more than piss people off, but from people that have taken the time to think about the environment and their actions I'd expect better.
Who cares how awful a choice of car it is and who that person is or what they do - every now and then a person's car (any person, any car) can be a lifeline. Anyone can have an emergency of some kind where the quickest way to get help is in their own car, or could need to respond to someone else's emergency. It is conceivable that coming out of your house to find your tyres have been let down could actually be the difference between life and death (miniscule probability, sure, but possible).
So, despite my dislike of SUVs and some SUV owners, I do not think that this is a valid way to try and educate people on their choices. If you really need to go down the route of inconveniencing SUV drivers (which personally I think is ridiculous and will only reinforce the divide between those that care about the environment and those that don't) then there are a hundred different ways that it could be done without compromising the ability for the vehicle to be used in an emergency and without damaging property.
Loving seeing car owners set the arbitrary acceptable vehicle size limit as just above what they drive, smugly ignoring the environmental impact of their own vehicles. There's some weapons grade hypocrisy on this thread.
Letting down the tyres of random members of the public and gluing yourself to roads gets you in the papers, but the impression it leaves on the wider public is that climate change activism is the concern of a lunatic fringe. Tokenism for the sake of self-satisfaction rather than really making a difference I’m afraid.
I think it's more nuanced than this. You say 'wider public' but I'd suggest you mean primarily those who own property. Those people are more likely to feel the way you describe, but those without property (cars, houses whatever) may feel differently. Inequality in our society creates these two camps, and age is a significant indicator. In short, younger people are less likely to agree with your view IMO.
Anyone can have an emergency of some kind where the quickest way to get help is in their own car, or could need to respond to someone else’s emergency. It is conceivable that coming out of your house to find your tyres have been let down could actually be the difference between life and death (miniscule probability, sure, but possible).
Yup - when my wife was 8 months pregnant with twins and started to bleed I would have been more than mildly annoyed or inconvenienced had I found our car to have had all its tyres deflated. I even exceeded speed limits (by some margin) and ran red lights that day. Thankfully all way okay.