Cleaning up London’s toxic air

I went to this with some friends and their 2-year-old daughter. Attendance felt very low however, probably due to the wet weather and also maybe because it was the first event of its kind, unlike the Freecycle event earlier in the year which is now incredibly popular. The feel was similar to the freecycle but more of a 'just have a wander about' and enjoy the closed off streets vibe. Some of the street attractions were the same as at the freecycle I noticed (e.g the BMX exhibition). 

I am all in favour of events like this, giving people a glimpse of what the city can be like without the omnipresent headache and menace of motor vehicles. It was in a relatively small area of the City on a Sunday, when this area is quiet anyway on any normal weekend. The idea that it's stopping people's divine right to drive to Ikea or whatever is just complete nonsense. 

Did I take part ? Well kind of. The local high street was shut, and is easy enough to navigate around on a quiet day, so no major issue with that. I'm hoping provision was made for those less mobile than me, but don't know if it was. It was pleasant to walk along in the road. Our local street was shut for three hours enabling about 10 middle class kids to muck around in the street for the afternoon, rather than walk to the nearby Park, which wasn't the end of the world but made Sunday afternoon noisy and unrelaxing. I'm pretty sure nearly all the middle class children's parents have fossil fuelled cars parked in the street.

I'd love there to be serious action to address climate change and the impact it has on all life. I'm prepared to give up things and change the way I live to be part of that. But tokenistic gestures like car free days seem to me to let everyone off the hook. Cars are not the problem themselves...they are not sneakily plotting to exterminate life and the way life is organised makes using them desirable for many and essential for quite a few as there is often no practicable alternative. Humans are the ones doing that (implementing extinction) and it needs serious changes to priorities to address that. The first step should be to phase out this nation's vast expenditure on warfare and arms (4th largest in the world I think), for our own and other's military forces. Until that kind of change is being seriously considered, car free days are just pissing in the wind. 

Will car-free day include pedicabs? It would be beneficial to have them off the streets for a while. 

I don't own a car so rather pointless

Yes I will take part great idea!

No. I don't drive anyhow...no point in London. And as it's a Sunday that day is booked....and I tend to use the tube.

London should learn from Amsterdam, 1000s of cyclists and minimum traffic and good public transport.

Interesting idea

Another reply to boring Terry Vaughan - YOU have not answered MY questions - as to how the people listed in my previous comment will "get about" on this silly car-free day -- nor how the UK economy could survive without cars in city centres ??    In answer to your challenge for "better ideas", a long-term solution is for the UK to cease handing out £14b every year overseas to corrupt governments and futile projects and spend those funds on construction at home including massive improvements to road junctions, building tunnels and overhead tracks for cyclists and electric scooters -- leaving the roads free and wide for motorists, by then in electric vehicles, to "get about" making the country prosperous.

Answer to Terry Vaughan - And how do you think that people who rely on cars -- like the old, the ill, the disabled, mothers with babies, salespersons with heavy samples, sportsmen and sportswomen with heavy equipment, shoppers, transitters with luggage, craftsmen and craftswomen with their tools --  will "get about" on this silly "car-free" day that achieves precisely nothing ?    Your next move will be to ban cars altogether in the countryside and, while you are at it, make all car-driving illegal without a permit -- so you can then sit back and happily watch the UK economy collapse -- which presumably is what you want.

This is good, but doesn't go far enough.

Every Sunday should be a car-free day.

Also, the whole of Soho should be private-car free.

Also the congestion charge should be doubled and the money invested in public transport.

I think we should have a NO snowflake NO do-gooder day and get rid of these leftwing fools that can't see our great city melting as they sip lattes in Crouch end 

I have looked at many of the messages here and their responses.

I have to say that this closing of London,again is nothing short of embarrassing.

As somebody that lives in south London and currently works in north London every weekend I need to cross our great city, while our middle class right on 9-5 suburbanites love to have a jolly-up and street party the rest of us have to work to pay the rent and put food on the table.

It is time to stop closing London, it is a major inconvenience, costs money to the city and individuals, and does nothing for the environment, all the vehicle that cannot pass through the roads closed will be sitting in traffic along the outer roads that remain open pumping out much more pollutants per mile than moving vehicles.

it is simple stupidity to assume everybody can walk or cycle for the day or catch public transport, it shows the level and lack of understanding of those that reside outside of the inner circle of friends that these people promoting and supporting such events have.

You may assume from this that my support for such scheme is limited and that I may not be joining in, just keep on paying my taxes and rfl and congestion charges and exorbitant parking and fuel charges along with any other levies that our fair city may wish to impose to fund the well off possibly well intentioned morons that believe they are helping me and improving my life

No, I will not be taking part in yet another event that prevents ordinary Londoners travelling around their city. Many of us have had enough of road closures to indulge cycling fanatics and various sports events that should be held in parks rather than on public roads. Cyclists pay no road tax but many seem to think they have a divine right to inconvenience motorists but also pedestrians by riding on pavements. What about the elderly and disabled who rely on cars? Enough of this nonsense, please! 

I am strongly in favour of a bicycle-free day in London, when car-drivers can go about their business using the silly cycle lanes - without being snarled up and thus emitting unnecessary carbon dioxide fumes that bring forward the effect of climate change.   At the same time. the dreadful buses emitting diesel fumes can be banned, thus allowing more car-drivers with their low emissions to use the roads and bring prosperity and health to the nation.

What a flop! Car free days should be made compulsory with harsh penalties for car use.  Since Uber arrived, traffic has almost doubled.

Whilst a great idea, which I've attended in the past, it needs to be more frequent

There's also a car-free day in Greenwich every year.

Pedestrianisation of roads is also a viable option.  They've done that in my borough (Greenwich) in Woolwich and it's a much safer and greener place to shop.

These events should have more activities around the pollution that these roads emit and suggestions on how to cut our carbon emissions.  Most of them seem to an excuse to promote big businesses and not enough on the smaller independent companies who are struggling with footfall and business rates.

No I won’t take part - what a waste of time and a publicity seeking stunt. We have to accept that there will always be a need for private transport - hopefully greener in future but still needed. So instead of banns incorporate cars etc. more acceptably. We don’t want more “street events” etc. We want convenient cheap green transport facilities including private transport.