The Amplified Case for Car Free Cycling and Walking Routes

Reading Time: 3 minutes
In the near future we may see many more self-driving cars from many different manufacturers. If this is the case then we should think about reducing the number of roads and lanes devoted to cars. As robots drive cars, rather than humans so safety distances no longer need to exist, because every car is talking with every other car, as a swarm.

Traffic Swarms

As I listened to a podcast about drones one of the people said "they write about swarms of drones but these are not swarms, for it to be a swarm each drone should talk with every drone and they should work as a single entity. Given this context I look forward to when we live in a world where cars are programmed to be part of a swarm, rather than individual units. This is because if cars drive themselves, they can be much closer, at a higher speed, whilst still being safe. It means that rather than have two or three lanes of traffic you would have just one, per direction. Imagine a motorway where cars behave as train cars, rather than driven cars.

Fewer Roads – Denser Traffic

If you look at a map of most parts of the world, whether countryside or cities, you will see that there are five or more roads exiting every village. With self driving cars you could reduce the number down to one or two. The other roads could be given over to pedestrians, cyclists, horse riders, skateboarders and rollerbladers. That’s because humans are human, and humans can be predictably irrational.

With self driving cars they just run programmed. This means that traffic can be synchronised to avoid having to stop, or feel any doubt. A machine runs as it is programmed to run, so it should not deviate from its course.

The Need for Machine and Human Separation

Although machines just run as programmed humans do not, whether cycling, walking or other. I do not like the idea of having self-driving cars driving by me with no human at the wheel. it’s bad enough when humans are at the wheel. It would be worse with machines.

Decreased Need for Parking

With a car that drives itself you do not need to have it parked a short walk from where you are. With a self-driving car it can park in a place that is optimal for when you request it to come back, but not in the way of others. At the moment, in summer, with human driven cars, when they are not in use they take up large parking spaces. They also take up pavements and cycling lanes. If cars park themselves then pedestrian lanes and cycling lanes can remain free of cars in summer.

And Finally

I started off with the idea that we should separate self-driving cars from pedestrians and cyclists but came to the conclusion that by having self-driven cars the need for roads will decrease as automated cars can drive along designated routes. Roads that were once used by cars would now be free of them, and they could be dedicated to healthier walking and cycling.

In my view it is a mistake to look at how to get city people out of their cars, because city people don’t need cars. When I lived in London I never felt the need for a car, but I deeply regret that no one encouraged me to get a bike and enjoy London that way. Imagine taking a bike rather than a night bus.

The issue is from villages to towns, and from village to village. Between villages and towns the distance is a kilometre or more, and if you walk over a kilometre on a dangerous road it is unpleasant. With self driving cars you could route traffic along two or three roads, and release the other roads to cyclists and pedestrians. Imagine having a slow up along certain routes every day. In fact you don’t need to imagine it. Via Verde, Voie Verte etc. are old train lines that are now wide spaces where cyclists, pedestrians and other users can be safe from the noise and pollution from cars.