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Leave your car at home for a day

12:26pm Monday 22nd January 2007

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PRODUCERS of a traffic documentary currently being filmed in Marlow are launching a campaign to get residents out of their cars for a day.

They are asking Marlow drivers to leave their cars at home for one day on Thursday, February 1.

If the day is a success they hope to convince people to choose one day each week as their car-free day.

Helen Simpson, Silver River TV producer and director, said: "We are launching a campaign to get people out of their cars. It's not an anti-car thing. We just want one day when everyone gets out of their cars for the day and then go forward from there to get people to not use their cars on one day of each week.

"In theory that should mean a 20 per cent reduction which is the exact effect you get during the school holidays. We need to change people's behaviour.

"We're not just coming to Marlow to make a television programme about a gimmick car day, but really trying to change things and make a difference on a national scale. We're looking for ideas about how to make it work."

Andy Rackstraw, who owns Saddle Safari, is getting involved in the scheme. He said: "We're helping to produce maps of Marlow showing suggested safe places to walk and cycle. On the day we will make the courtyard outside our shops a secure area with bike racks which we will police.

"If people have bikes that haven't been used for a while we will check them over free of charge to make sure they are safe."

Mr Rackstraw said his business is also considering lending bikes to Globe Park industrial estate workers for the one day non-car trial.

But MP for Marlow, Paul Goodman said: "We can't get away from the fact Marlow is a reasonably small and reasonably wealthy town.

"This means that the number of cars that people own rises. It's a good thing in principle if more people cycle, but I'm very reluctant to start telling people how they should travel around."

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tim, says...
12:55pm Mon 22 Jan 07

1st!

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Ivor Bigun, says...
1:05pm Mon 22 Jan 07

Are they serious? Are you sure they don’t mean April the 1st rather than February the 1st or have they just invented “February fools day”?

If they are looking for a “20% reduction like you get in the school holidays” are they saying that the schools are the cause of the traffic problems in our market towns?

Will they be offering to reimburse everyone for the days road tax and insurance that anyone who take part in their silly scheme will effectively loose?

I still think they are looking in the wrong town, they should be looking in Wycombe, after all Wycombe is being transformed with “modern” town planning, which is already proving to be a disaster for traffic....

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Trefor, says...
1:59pm Mon 22 Jan 07

So while local people leave their cars at home, walking in the (probable) pi55ing rain to school/shops, all the non-locals can zoom up and down the High Street without any delays. How nice for them.

People drive everywhere because it is safe, dry, still quicker than walking. Maybe people will try cycling on July 1st, but on February 1st? I don't think so.

The roads are probably safer while congested. All that traffic stops people doing more than 10-15mph down the High Sreet and running errant toddlers over.

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Terry Leahy, says...
3:04pm Mon 22 Jan 07

Great idea. Lots of parking spaces for us coming in from out of town!

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Paul (Living & Working in Wycombe), says...
3:46pm Mon 22 Jan 07

Surely the new entry slip road on to the M40 north bound at Handy Cross will help queuing traffic on the Marlow bypass. This in-turn should encourage more drivers to use the bypass in stead of driving through Marlow high street to avoid the bypass traffic. Aiming for the back roads and into Lane End and Booker, Cressex, Sands, West Wycombe, Aylesbury and so on. It won't stop local traffic or drivers heading for Henley but surely this is one of the reasons for the handy Cross development isn't it?

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Be Ware, says...
12:56pm Tue 23 Jan 07

All those 4 x 4's left at home on the same day??? Won't that cause the planet to wobble or stop spinning?

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Sabrina, says...
2:08pm Tue 23 Jan 07

nothing is "just down the road" anymore its at least 3 miles away how the **** do you expect us to walk that far for a bottle of milk, all those 4x4 drivers need lobotomies

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Fat Bloke, says...
5:42pm Tue 23 Jan 07

Sabrina

3 miles is not a long walk! Perhaps you should have remembered to get the milk when you drove your metal box to the supermarket.

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cher, says...
8:59pm Tue 23 Jan 07

Sabrina - get a bike

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Fat Bloke, says...
11:40pm Tue 23 Jan 07

Sorry Cher...

Apart from bikes not being cool anymore, riding with carrier bags on the steering contraption must be illegal?
She should walk or use recycled paper to make a list afore going shopping in her little metal box.

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Ashley Drive, says...
3:52pm Wed 24 Jan 07

i stole a Bentley once but thats another story, we have to drive and thats a fact theres nothing i can do about it

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Neil Wragg, says...
4:36pm Wed 24 Jan 07

Come and join in on the day, for those moaners come and see if it's a disaster. For those with a more positive attitude, forget the rest and do something healthy, for yourself... http://www.changegearforaday.com


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Paul Mansell, says...
12:48pm Thu 25 Jan 07

Ok, maybe people would be more inclined to walk instead of jump in their cars when it's a lovely Spring or Summer's day, but there's that old adage I think coined by Billy Connolly "There's no such thing as bad weather, only the wrong clothing!" Those people who live miles out of Marlow couldn't possibly make their kids walk to school, but maybe they could organise car sharing on a regular basis; the same arrangement might be feasible for some out of town workers as well.
It's not a case of idealism gone mad ... trying to turn the clock back to the 1950's. We do need cars but I for one will be trying harder to do things in good time so I don't feel I have to jump in the car to nip to the local shop or drop the children off at school because I'm running late; it's actually quicker most of the time to walk than to try and cross Marlow in a car anyway. (Try doing the 'Brownies run' on a Thursday evening across Marlow Bridge!)
I live in Marlow and I can certainly choose not to use the car for a lot of my journeys. I will endeavour to walk or cycle more and hopefully shed a few pounds and feel healthier in the process. If nothing else, this programme is highlighting the issue of traffic congestion, something we all complain about, and trying to suggest a few simple ways that individuals could help.

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Pete, says...
5:22pm Thu 25 Jan 07

I'm really looking forward to this. Should be able to get a few more minutes sleep knowing my mile-long journey into work will be that much quicker.

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Sean Howler, says...
3:34pm Sat 27 Jan 07

I acknowledge the idea behind the campaign and the basic principle is sound but why not launch it when we are over our snow/freezing conditions? If its partly about 'the children' then surely we are doing no oursaelves no favours dragging them out in the middle of winter? I would wait until the sun is smiling on us and when we are assured of this scheme getting ackowledgement and positive support. After all anyone driving through our town isn't going to know aout this, and we are not actually going to stop them are we?? Why don't we organise a mini car show instead? At least we will be warm in our cars!

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Colonel Blimp, says...
4:07pm Sat 27 Jan 07

I have often felt guilty that i might recklessly mow down a Cyclist whilst out driving..
So i recently traded my sensible car for a Challenger Tank. Now i can kill them in multiples of 20.

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4X4Driver, says...
12:01pm Mon 29 Jan 07

Sabrina wrote:
nothing is "just down the road" anymore its at least 3 miles away how the **** do you expect us to walk that far for a bottle of milk, all those 4x4 drivers need lobotomies
Sabrina. You need a brain operation for automatically blaming 4 x 4 drivers.... the school rub mothers cause most problems in Marlow.... And people like you far too concerned with 4x4 drivers...

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Rachel Blunden, says...
1:03pm Mon 29 Jan 07

I've been working in Marlow for nearly 12 years and have used public transport for all of that time. I bring my 6 month son with me so I can spend the hour it takes each way from Reading. I would like to see more bus shelters in Marlow. It's horrible waiting for the bus in the rain especially when it's late.

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Miriam, says...
2:59pm Mon 29 Jan 07

How sad that some people are not willing to give this a try and are very negative. Kids are far more resilient than we give them credit for and some actually like walking in the rain! We are trying to get our children to see that leaving the car at home can be done, and they in turn can encourage Mum and Dad. Its not about no cars its about less cars.

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Stephen, says...
10:22pm Tue 30 Jan 07

If First Great Western were to run a decent timetable then I would certainly leave the car at home. I currently commute to Marlow daily from Reading the only two trains home are the 17.06 and 18:19 when I finish at 17:30 why are there no convient trains?

I would not get to Reading until 7pm

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Phil, says...
10:08am Wed 31 Jan 07

I'll be riding in from Hazlemere, 7 miles to work in the glorious February sunshine. and 7 mile back in the dark!

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Yeti Large, says...
10:24am Wed 31 Jan 07

I aint getting on no train to work sucker.. dont make me mad..

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burton, says...
10:34am Wed 31 Jan 07

awiiiiiight i`m not looking forward to this, as a dedicated walker i`m worried all these extra pedestrians are going to be clogging up the pavements has no one thought about the impact on us walkers, stay in your cars, power to the people

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lisa, says...
8:48pm Wed 31 Jan 07

Such a shame that there is so many negative comments to what is essentially a good idea. Even if it isn't possible for everyone to find an alternative to their car journey, hopefully it will have spurred people in to at least looking at the options available. I am lucky that I am able to walk safely into Marlow. Unfortunately, I need the car on the part of my journey up the Frieth road to the kids nursery. We have tried walking and bikes, but with no pavement, it is really dangerous. This scheme promted me to look at the 'travel choices' section and I see that there is a 'rider on call' bus that goes that way. I wouldn't have known about this, or even looked into it, if it weren't for this scheme.

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Sarah, Henley says...
9:24am Thu 1 Feb 07

I cycled from Henley to Marlow today in order to support the Marlow no car day - well done to everyone who put in a great deal of effort and time to organise this event. Change is never easy but if we are to reduce the amount of pollution and congestion we have to start somewhere. We need to start looking at the bigger picture rather how inconvenienced we will be. Anything is possible to achieve and with a little bit of effort each one of us can make a difference, together we can literally change our world.

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tom, marlow says...
9:31am Thu 1 Feb 07

Well, I walked to work this morning as usual and I think there were fewer cars, and more people walking - a good sign.

It is important though that this isnt a one off. I hope it will be followed up and better publicised. Just spoken to one person who works in Marlow one day a week who knew nothing about it.

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Jed, Slough says...
1:10pm Fri 2 Feb 07

Silly middle class "green" people making themselves feel better by using their shiny mountain bikes once a year. 'Nuff said.

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