Roger Lawson of the Alliance of British Drivers is wrong when he objected to £913m being spent on a scheme that favours cyclists over other road users in London. (As reported by the BBC)

The Mayors vision For Cycling pdf available here

It is self evident from the picture on the front of his cycling plan that London Mayor Boris Johnson, and his sidekick cycling Czar Andrew Gilligan are doing a great service to London’s ‘beleaguered drivers’. By promising to build separated cycle lanes all over London. (And from that artists impression it looks like the cyclers won’t be able to leave their little lane)

Drive along the Victoria Embankment today, you’ll encounter cyclists all over the road

Not for long, once that segregated cycle East-West cycle lane gets built they’ll be out of our way. A small tweak in the law could then ban them from riding on our roads.

Another reason Mr. Lawson is wrong is that these lanes may well encourage some ‘drivers’, who would like to cycle but are scared to because of… er, drivers, to give cycling a go which will leave more room on the roads for the rest of us.

As to Boris’ plan to “de-Lycrafy cycling” making it look like a normal activity. That would do everyone a favour.

We resolve this year to make more trips by car, more often.

As well as driving a nice car to feel more attractive we wish to ensure we get our money’s worth by putting in the miles.

We therefore resolve to:

• Give up walking to the shops for the milk and paper. We’ll drive.
• Give the kids a lift to their school round the corner
• Stop the family Sunday cycling in the park. We’ll go for a Sunday drive
• Stop using the underground for nights on the town. We’ll drive
• Leave the engine running while parked up as long as possible

We resolve to make this year ‘”The Year of the Car”

What would Jesus drive?

(Post your thoughts on our twitter feed)

There’s no better day to go for a spin than on Christmas day (apart from drive to work day of course). You will own the road, be able to drive faster than usual, can jump a few lights and no one will notice.

Put the roast in the oven, take the car out the garage, deck it out with sprigs of holly and drive to the sound of your favorite carols.

Merry Christmas from all of us at Drive to Work Day

We will next be driving to work on Wednesday 11th December 2013.

We hope you can join us.

Thanks to all the many thousands of people who turned out en mass to take part in London’s Drive to Work Day. See how we took over the centre of London creating gridlock. (We took an Addison Lee Cab. Great service. Thanks)

Work now begins to make Drive To Work Day 2013 an even greater success. Next years date to be announced early in the New Year.

Post your stories about your drive to work. Tweet using #LDtWD

It’s the eve of Drive to Work Day.

While we have already outlined many reasons to drive to work tomorrow we were taken aback when we came across this final insult to car drivers:

It is not enough that we have to pay so much to park our precious cars. To see a fine parking space given over to at least 10 cycle parking spaces so graphically shown with that green car outline is a huge mockery of our simple pastime of driving our cars. As if we needed another reason to protest our plight by taking to 4 wheels tomorrow.

(See our links page for some helpful parking tips for central London tomorrow)

Check back tomorrow for a full report on the day. We are expecting between 100,000 to 200,000 participants who will all be leaving their bikes at home, their walking shoes in the cupboard and their Oyster card in the drawer and taking part in London’s first ever Drive to Work Day

Tweet your experience using #LDtWD @drivetoworkday

U P D A T E

We reported AA President Edmund King’s ambiguous stance towards driving.  He spouts more anti driver drivel following showing of a BBC TV program showing what drivers have to deal with on our roads

• Celebrate the government’s road building plan
• Improve safety for drivers
• Support the privatisation of Britain’s roads
• Get rid of daft traffic calming measures
  
• Prevent the decline of the motor car
• Get walkers and bicyclists out of your way
• Stop driver bashing
• Use your horn whenever you wish
• Improve driver’s health
• Maintain the current hierarchy on the road

Traffic lights are good. Road signs are good. They help drivers by keeping us in order. We don’t need to concentrate too much on what is going on around, just on the little red light waiting for it to go green. They keep people not in cars under control, everyone knows who has right of way. No confusion. So what if we have to wait sometime when it’s clearly safe to go. Better a little unnecessary pollution than anarchy on the roads.

So imagine how dismayed we felt when we saw this:

The idea of encouraging drivers to behave in different ways, becoming caring and sharing the road, empathising with pedestrians is absurd. Getting anywhere would take ages if we had to let anyone who chooses to walk, cross the road whenever they wanted to. Roads are for drivers in cars not for people who probably can’t afford a car (so don’t pay the taxes that we all pay for our roads). The current hierarchy on the road is fine thank you Martin Cassini.

Lets hope your views don’t get taken seriously.

Imagine the chaos on Drive to Work Day if the traffic  lights were turned off. Say no to any change in the hierarchy on the road by driving to work on 11th December!

“I like traffic lights red, amber and green” Monty Python’s Flying Circus

We recently read that drivers are exposed to more pollution than people on bikes or pedestrians due to the closeness of cars air intake to the exhaust emission of the vehicle in front and the limited exchange of air within cars.

We’ll show you the evidence and suggest 2 solutions.

We were dismayed to read research about this done by University of Roskilde, Department of Environment, Technology and Social Studies, Denmark. They state in their abstract:

Based on close observation of drivers behaviour over many years we list the main reason why drivers beep their horn.

1. To tell the person in front to get a move on

We all know how annoying it is to be stuck behind another driver who does not move as soon as the lights turn green. Let them know how you feel with a loud long hoot. They’ll get the message, stop texting and move on… and next time will be ready on clutch and accelerator for a decent start

2. To let someone in a house know you are outside

Why get out your car and ring someone’s doorbell when you have a loud horn in your car. A series of hoots will ensure they get the message and don’t tarry.

3. To hurry along a slow pedestrian

We all know the law, that a person crossing the road on foot has right of way. Don’t let that stop you giving them a nudge with a sharp blast of your horn. Especially fun when used for older people who really are slow and need reminding to hurry up. Fun to target mums with buggies too.

4. To get people on bicycles out of your way

Those really annoying bicyclists (again) riding in your way. Drive close to their back wheel, rev your engine and give them a good HONK. That will get them to scurry back to the gutter where they should be. We understand that people getting cycle training are taught to ride in the middle of our lane when they need to to get seen or to stop us overtaking too close. A loud angry beep will put paid to that silly behaviour!

5. To let everyone know how angry you are

There may be many reasons why you are angry in your car. You could be stuck in a traffic jam, in gridlock for what seems aeons. Time for a really long loud toot. Or someone does something you don’t like, such as let another driver in the queue. Express your dislike with a penalty parp. Or just having a bad day… no need to bottle it all up, use your horn, express yourself!

Some people think that unnecessary use of your horn is antisocial, rude, stressful, polluting and distracting. What do they know they’re probably not drivers.

Toot toot!