Commute by Internet

Driving into town from Heathrow last Monday morning, and squeezed in behind the driver’s seat of a Renault Mégane, I’m sure I should be forgiven for thinking that I was on my way back to Accra on that British Airways red-eye that had just disgorged a couple of hundred of us at Terminal 5.

                Just about every part of me was sour, not excluding my mood, which became even more dyspeptic as the morning traffic gradually slowed down to a crawl. It took 90 minutes to complete a journey that, according to Google Maps, should have taken only 36. I know, we don’t live in heaven, but even in this kind of hell, one and a half hours is far too long to sit on the road doing nothing apart from stamping carbon footprints all over the place and making things worse than they already are.

And I know, I know. Who am I to talk after discharging tons of carbon travelling the five thousand K between London and Accra and then back? But there was not a practical alternative. And to add to my dyspepsia, as we jerked along in that morning commute, the vast majority of cars had only one occupant. I know we all love our privacy and enjoy an exclusive domain in which to scratch, fart and listen to our own brand of music or radio. But think about the other inconveniences and consequences of this type of indulgence. For example, who needs to leave home an hour or even two earlier than is required to cover a finite mileage, when there is a perfectly sensible alternative? Just don’t drive into the gridlock that we insist on making of our roads. Let someone else do the driving and leave at a more sociable hour and, not to mention, save time on useless hanging about over asphalt. What about the fuel that could be saved? That is saving that could make us all quite rich before we know it. This applies everywhere, not just in the space around London.

We haven’t even begun to consider the bigger space of the environment, which is already feeling distinctly unwell. Just think if we seriously car-pool. In a pool of 5 we can cut down the traffic by four-fifths and in one of 6 by 85% and one of twelve by 90%. We already have the means to do this efficiently using GPS and internet connectivity. I don’t even have to explain, you work it out yourself.

By the way, that Sickle Cell Congress went very well and we all came away with a warm feeling all over. All we need now is to transfer this feeling to those with the disease. ASAP.

Tell Fren Tru