Tyred of SUV’s

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 **** 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)

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-10161697/Volvo-says-electric-car-making-emissions-70-HIGHER-petrol.html?fbclid=IwAR2sngvNsBpDGytwl1-lRjQl5gMGxqga49GBHJocvjAQkvBp4sWumAOaJyw

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.

Again that is unfair on rural communities that *have* to do some miles just to get around and do life.

+1

And I’m already paying +£500 in ‘road tax’ for my family-sized saloon as it was >£40k new, whereas my wife’s SUV’s ‘road tax’ is about a 1/3 of that, because it was <£40k.

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.

Not sure if stupid or trolling…

“and”

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

This is the most important statement in this thread for me.

Of particular distaste I think the posters that state it’s for the government to put regs place before they will be changing their ways. Like the religious who require a missive from a book or a head god bother before they understand what the right thing to do is.

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).

In the West End of Glasgow? Yeah, I would say zero probability.

Like I said, if there was ever a place where you absolutely do not need to own an SUV it’s the West End of Glasgow and the protestors picked their location well.

Hence the fact the biggest ‘victim’ story the BBC could find was a pharmacist who was late for work.

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.

But when I was at school everyone knew it was 300ppm hence it has increased by 1/3 in that time, which is a helluva lot and quite scary.

( discounting rounding errors)

Edit to say that its even more weird that due to the change we’ve now got a total of 100.001% of constituent gasses in the atmosphere….. go figure 😉

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.

Yes, thankfully you didn’t kill anyone.

Unless your car is fitted with blue flashing lights I would say what you did put far more lives in danger than this protest did.

Wait until everyone catches on that electric cars are not that sustainable either.

@matt_outandabout did you read the article or just the clickbait headline?

“The Swedish car maker said that over a car’s lifetime the electric version will become greener overall, though this will only be achieved after covering between 30,000 and 68,400 miles” and that’s also using figures for the global energy mix.

The EU-28 energy mix is greener and rapidly getting greener still. And this graph is only for 120k miles which isn’t that much these days.

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.

It might not sound like a lot but it’s enough to cause a lot of problems. Let the scientists do the science, and listen to what they say.

Two things.

Lots of the new Defender 90 in Surrey. I look at them, and even with one estate agent driving it, they look big but small inside. I looked it up – the boot is 176 litres. Really?

Surrey again. Friends are directors of companies. No problem with that. 2 year car cycle, this year get a leccie one, save the environment! “What do you use it for?” Oh nothing really, it’s useful to drive to the airport once a week.”

It’s all greenwashing isn’t it?

Of particular distaste I think the posters that state it’s for the government to put regs place before they will be changing their ways.

@Convert – totally agree with this.

statements like “I wanted it and it’s not against the law” and “until the government…” are utterly pathetic and really show the level of social responsibility felt by the people who make them.

Self entitled, self centred, self aggrandising idiots.

I also love all the people complaining about tyres being deflated because ONCE in your life you had an emergency that required access to a car, but the millions of others times you used the car, it would’ve been an inconvenience at most.

Also LOL at the person who thinks a car tyre is ruined when the car has been sat on a flat tyre for a few hours.

If you can afford the £40k saloon you can afford the wealth tax it comes with. Further punitive taxation may be part of the solution here.

So Molgrips, what they are really saying is that buying a brand new electric car is slightly less bad than buying a brand new petrol car?
That doesn’t make it good at all.
Best options are, in order
Have no car
Have old car, use it a lot less
Have old car
Have new electric car
Have new fossil fuel car.
Those last two are way, way worse than any of the others
.
I’m in the Have old car and use it less group, some journeys cannot be done on foot or by bike and for a significant part of the country there is just no public transport. Its not ideal, I am still part of the problem.

There are laws about mandatory wearing of masks….

That’s going well (great example shown by our PM!).

Everybody agrees something has to be done (just not by them…).

Netfucked by 2050 here we come.

Love the juxtaposition of Davos'[almost] username and his view 🙂

Mr MacConnacher, who drives 25 miles to Aberfoyle, Stirlingshire, each day for work, said he needs a large car as he often faces “challenging conditions” on the road in winter.

But also has summer tyres on a car in Scotland in November. Do these “challenging conditions” involve not being able to get a parking space close to the Ubiquitous Chip?

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.

I take your point about younger people supporting this kind of direct action, but it’s not really them that need convincing is it? The older, property owning, SUV drivers are likely to have the gas boilers and meat based diets etc. are not exactly a minority. It’s those that have a lot that need to be convinced it’s in their interest to do with a bit less.

Yes, thankfully you didn’t kill anyone.

Unless your car is fitted with blue flashing lights I would say what you did put far more lives in danger than this protest did.

Given the situation at the time I felt that I had no other option, I stand by what I did 100% and will not apologise for it. What would you have done in the situation?

Interesting that (mild) vandalism to a vehicle is seen by some as a terrible crime worthy of being met with violence, yet vandalism against the environment is not something to be called up on at all (particularly, as long as there’s at least one other person on the planet who can be pointed out as being slightly worse). In fact – as mentioned out – some people seem to think it’s their right to inflict as much environmental damage as they want, up until the point it’s actually made illegal?

The main problem is IMO that, although we’ve probably reached the tipping point where we’re already **** anyway (barring some huge planet-saving technological advance) the time where it’ll actually impact people in a big way is still years off and in fact, most of us will probably be dead or close by that point. So why would the averagely selfish person really care? Even though I do try hard to be as eco as possible these days, not sure I really care if I’m quite honest, as it does rather seem like pissing in the wind!

Also LOL at the person who thinks a car tyre is ruined when the car has been sat on a flat tyre for a few hours.

whys that then ? pretty big leap to assum a car is used every few hours……

HAve seen the results of a flat tire left for 3 days and the rim had cut into the rubber so ill stand by my original statement thanks even if you find it funny.

Given the situation at the time I felt that I had no other option, I stand by what I did 100% and will not apologise for it. What would you have done in the situation?

If I felt that breaking the speed limit and jumping red lights was necessary then I would have called an ambulance.

This thread has changed my opinion on the protestors actions. I was pretty neutral about it before but reading the responses has made me realise that humans are completely incapable of judging risks and really shouldn’t be allowed to drive any type of motorised vehicle.

I now think the protestors should let down the tyres on all cars.

I’m struggling to think of pharmacies that are off a main road

Perhaps his patients might be. Home deliveries are a thing, especially in winter. You don’t win hearts and minds with this action. Nor blocking the M25 junctions.

If I felt that breaking the speed limit and jumping red lights was necessary then I would have called an ambulance.

You mean the ambulance that would have to drive from the hospital to our house then drive back again. Even assuming it set off immediately that would double the journey time and we were very concerned we were about to lose our unborn babies – at that point every second counted.

If you can afford the £40k saloon you can afford the wealth tax it comes with. Further punitive taxation may be part of the solution here.

1 I didn’t buy it new
2 My car is about 33% more fuel-efficient than my wifes’ SUV

And your point is, jealousy?

You don’t win hearts and minds with this action.

Absolutely. But then again, relying on politicians to solve the problem facing the planet is going swimmingly…

Do nothing <hyperbole> and let your children die </hyperbole> or make a fuss on the way out?

You mean the ambulance that would have to drive from the hospital to our house then drive back again. Even assuming it set off immediately that would double the journey time and we were very concerned we were about to lose our unborn babies – at that point every second counted.

So when you called 999 they told you not to bother waiting for an ambulance and just jump in your car and drive to the hospital as quickly as possible and to ignore red lights?

I mean, it was life or death so obviously the first thing you did was call 999, right?

Right decision johndoh.

You don’t win hearts and minds with this action.

It’s too late for that. We’ve had 60+ years trying to gently persuade people to do the right thing and we are still heading in the wrong direction. Times up. We need to be far more punitive to those that choose to be part of the problem.

.

I can only imagine the rage of some forum members when they are ready to go for a bike ride only to find a flat tyre on their bike…