Date published: 2008/10/16
The Cambridge News says:
Proposals to shut Cambridge's Mill Road as a throughroute for traffic have won backing from cyclists, shops and taxi drivers.
The News revealed yesterday that one option for the congested shopping street put before Cambridgeshire County Council involved a barrier to through traffic except for public transport and cyclists, possibly on the midway point at the railway bridge.
Jimmy Akhtar, postmaster at Romsey Town Post Office, said: "I don't think that would be a problem. Mill Road can be very congested."
But he warned that any scheme should not completely prevent cars using Mill Road, adding:
"I rely on a lot of my customers getting here by car."
Martin Lucas-Smith, co-ordinator for Cambridge Cycling Campaign, said: "This would certainly be a massive benefit for cyclists, and we urge the county council to give it serious consideration.
"Evidence elsewhere is clear that road closures result in an overall reduction in motor traffic, rather than merely displacing it." v Sid Couzens, chairman of Cambridge Licensed Taxi Owners' Association, said: "I think it would be a good idea for everybody, not just taxi drivers.
"It would cut congestion and pollution. Rising bollards have been a success elsewhere - when they have worked."
Surprise, people who have a direct (financial or otherwise) interest in seeing this latest proposal from the Cambridge transport "planners" go ahead are dead keen, who would have thought it.
No doubt Lucas-Smith would exclaim equal joy at the closure of all roads to cars. If there is one thing that the CCC is more than pro-cycling, it is anti-car. So why would anyone take anything he, or the CCC, says seriously, on this subject.
And in spite of it being outrageous that taxis are exempt from pretty much all regulation that affects ordinary drivers in Cambridge, it is hardly surprising that taxi drivers would continue to support the extension of this outrageous system that benefits them.
If the Cambridge News could have been bothered to continue this vacuous exercise, no doubt they could have gladly informed us that taxi drivers would like to see cyclists banned from Mill Road, and the CCC would like to see taxis banned from Mill Road. This is all just the cult of the selfish, writ large. Special interest pressure groups always want to see their own interests put above the interests of society as a whole. It should not be the job of the Cambridge News to blindly encourage this trend.
As for the poor postmaster, he must be either very confused or just misquoted. He can forget about many of his customers getting there by car if they close Mill Road, unless the closure miraculously happens at a point far from his store. Does he understand what the word "closure" means?
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