There are many people who, like me, could never afford to take driving lessons, buy a car or keep a car. Or go on holiday, domestically or abroad. We are among the materially poorest people in the nation. I am disabled: I suffer from severe arthritis, Crohn’s disease and I am on the autistic spectrum (Asperger’s). Yet I go everywhere on a bicycle, it is like a wheelchair for me, I can’t really get far without it, but even though I hold a Blue Badge, I do not have a car and I can live well without one. I go out on the bicycle in all weather conditions at all times of the year when I am not too ill. What I am trying to say is that if someone like me can manage without a car for leisure purposes then most other people can too. I could easily cycle 20 miles per day on my electric pedelec, and not think anything of it. I can also carry around 50kg of shopping.
On the visible horizon the era of the autonomous vehicle is driving towards us, so I cannot see what excuse people will have for leaving their rusting hulks of complicated metal outside their houses when they should be a able to summon a communally shared “room on wheels” to take them unquestioningly to their desired destination.
I think the government should consider offering to buy back people’s driving licences, for life. So if you are willing to give up driving, you will be paid an appropriate sum and you will consent to washing your hands of driving for the rest if your life except in very exceptional circumstances (when you could buy the right to apply for a new driving licence and be retested, such as if you experience severe disablement).
But the main point I would like to make is that every citizen should be given an annual carbon budget made of credits which they can sell, for a good price to other citizens who may wish to carry on owning a car and driving around or flying. The budget should apply to everyone over the age 16, although disabled people should have a higher budget. It should not apply when people who have to drive vehicles for their work, or to pilots and air-cabin staff. This way, people who have no choice but to get around on foot, by bicycle or on public transport, who can rarely, if ever afford a holiday, who are usually the most financially poor in the UK, the most carbon virtuous among us, can sell most of their credits to the highest bidder, and they will profit from their virtue. Theymay even be able to afford a holiday, or to get a better bicycle.
I will not pretend that it is always easy cycling to hospital appointments in the pouring rain in the middle of winter with strong winds in your face, but I do not experience that as a hardship, more as a challenge that makes me glad to be alive, and it enables me to deeply appreciate the sunny days when there are charming zephyrs wafting the scent of meadow flowers as birds sing with joy.
Not being locked into a metal box, blasting out harmful particulates and other toxins which harm children, animals and everyone else, puts you in touch with the beauty of being alive. If you could also get paid for it, why wouldn’t everyone want to live like that?
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