Speed Awareness Course

[Phil Pascoe]

There are villages in Cornwall for instance that have 70% of the houses left empty for the vast majority of the year, just so some greedy fool can have have a day or two in his or her favourite spot, while complaining if any "affordable" houses get put up for the locals and spoil the view. This has the effect of putting up house prices, both to buy and to rent and traps a lot of people in poverty.

It also causes the closing down of primary schools, post offices, shops, pubs, taxi firms, doctor's and dentist's surgeries etc. as the there's isn't a sufficient (younger?) population to justify them.

 

[Kittyhawk]

My whole problem with speeding is people bitching that the world is persecuting them when the limits are there for the protection of others. Speeding is selfish act.

Exactly so!
I have two problems with people speeding.
The first is with people who like to boast how they went from point A to point B at near lightspeed - I like to say that I'm glad they don't live next door to me as they may consider burgling my house. They normally take umbrage at the insinuation that they may be inclined to do so, so I ask them how then do they decide which laws to obey and which to disregard, especially with regard to speeding as it carries far greater deadly potential that entering my home and nicking my telly.
And the second is that the area where I live is mountainous and the windy roads tend to attract wannabe racers so as an ex ambo I have been dispatched to a fair few motor vehicle accidents. One comes to mind. We were sent to a car vs motorbike. My assistant was a young girl only graduated, first day on the job. The motorcyclist was a mess and my assistant went to pieces for which I can't blame her, so she was of no use to me. So I told her gently I'd sort the poor sod out, you go off and see if you can find his àrm.
Think about it before you put your foot down. We make a big fuss about the road toll but my first hand experience tends towards the opinion that the dead in motor vehicle accidents are often the lucky ones. Even in relatively minor accidents I have seen numerous injuries that are going to have life long consequences for the survivors.
And I don't care if you find the above distasteful - I want you all to live long and healthy.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

It's probably the 4 in 5 who get no benefit.

We are supposed to be grateful for any scraps we are given. If a Cornish tourist attraction is owned by a firm registered in London (pays its taxes in London) and imports its senior staff we are supposed to be grateful. Cornwall is probably the poorest County and is often kept poor deliberately - e.g. nearly a third less is spent on pupils in Cornish schools than is spent in London. Why? There is an article in the local press atm about a councillor who is up in arms because he's found out that the amount of money spent on road improvements is influence by the local average wage. Why?

 

[Geoff_S]

Tourism also costs such places a lot, when you take into account the second home market and how it forces up house prices for the locals. There are villages in Cornwall for instance that have 70% of the houses left empty for the vast majority of the year, just so some greedy fool can have have a day or two in his or her favourite spot, while complaining if any "affordable" houses get put up for the locals and spoil the view. This has the effect of putting up house prices, both to buy and to rent and traps a lot of people in poverty. It's high time an end was put to this - it would free up thousands and thousands of houses for use by people that need a place to live.

Who sells the properties?

 

[bilspe]

Tourism also costs such places a lot, when you take into account the second home market and how it forces up house prices for the locals. There are villages in Cornwall for instance that have 70% of the houses left empty for the vast majority of the year, just so some greedy fool can have have a day or two in his or her favourite spot, while complaining if any "affordable" houses get put up for the locals and spoil the view. This has the effect of putting up house prices, both to buy and to rent and traps a lot of people in poverty. It's high time an end was put to this - it would free up thousands and thousands of houses for use by people that need a place to live.

Absolutely

 

[Jacob]

Tourism also costs such places a lot, when you take into account the second home market and how it forces up house prices for the locals. There are villages in Cornwall for instance that have 70% of the houses left empty for the vast majority of the year, just so some greedy fool can have have a day or two in his or her favourite spot, while complaining if any "affordable" houses get put up for the locals and spoil the view. This has the effect of putting up house prices, both to buy and to rent and traps a lot of people in poverty. It's high time an end was put to this - it would free up thousands and thousands of houses for use by people that need a place to live.

Tory policy to do nothing about housing or house prices.
It's wildly inflationary as we all know, but it benefits existing property owners in higher sales prices or rents charged.
Profits then go to buy more property and carry on pumping up prices.
It's also heavily subsidised by the tax payer via housing benefits and other minimal attempts to house the less well off, which creates a "perfect storm" of inflation. This redirects taxation back into the pockets of wealthy property owners.
It has also created a new huge class of landlords who own just one or two properties and live off the backs of their neighbours.
Crude capitalism woven into the fabric of society and difficult to disentangle. If you own even one empty property it is earning money by inflation, probably more than you could earn by working
It benefits the wealthy so tends to get ignored in all conversations about inflation, even though for half the population it is an ongoing ever present inflationary disaster, dominating their lives.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Who sells the properties?

A person who needs the money to buy the next one. I'll sell mine half price if the person I'm buying from sells his hallf price.

 

[Geoff_S]

A person who needs the money to buy the next one. I'll sell mine half price if the person I'm buying from sells his hallf price.

That’s a very unique approach.

 

[bilspe]

Who sells the properties?

Estate agents

Thats such an old chestnut though The Cornish are not deliberately selling their houses to rich buyers from up country.
Houses come up for sale because of all the usual reasons.... family deaths, people moving, job relocations, and so on.
Property goes up for sale on the open market at market price, wealthy buyer from the south east buys it or sometimes offers more money (and often doesn't live in it)
With Cornwall being one of the poorest counties in the country who in their right mind is going sell their property at less than market value....

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I live in one of the poorest areas of the poorest County. There are two holiday homes within a couple of hundred yards of me. I've seen people in each of them once this year for a weekend. Does wonders for the local economy - they should pay 5x the council tax.

 

[Jacob]

I live in one of the poorest areas of the poorest County. There are two holiday homes within a couple of hundred yards of me. I've seen people in each of them once this year for a weekend. Does wonders for the local economy - they should pay 5x the council tax.

Big problem everywhere in Britain. Wales hard hit too. Plaid Cymru had a "come home to a real fire " policy but there are better ways!

 

[sploo]

I was surprised by this graph too: Mpg For Speed - Fuel Efficiency Vs. Speed

As I understand it most fuel use/emissions arise from acceleration so accelerating to 20mph produces less than doing so to 30mph.

Scientific/physics geekery warning...

As noted in the link posted by Jacob; at a steady speed the major load on an engine is the work it's having to do to push the car through the air (there will be rolling resistance and friction in bearings, transmission etc, but wind resistance is the major factor). Because that wind resistance rises exponentially with speed, even a small increase in cruising speed will have a large (negative) effect on fuel economy - due to the engine having to work harder (generate more horsepower => burn more fuel) to push the car through the air.

As an example; there's the often quoted figure of the Bugatti Veyron running a full tank dry in a matter of minutes if driven at it's top speed (due to the huge horsepower requirement to travel at such a high speed).

In terms of acceleration; accelerating from one speed to another requires a force to be applied to the vehicle (F). For a given mass, the larger the force the larger the acceleration (acceleration = force / mass). The power required to do that is proportional to the force; so, the faster you want to accelerate, the more force you need. The more force you need the more power you need, and more power produced from the engine requires more fuel.

Accelerating from a lower speed up to 20mph will take less fuel than accelerating up to 30mph simply because getting up to 30mph means you need to apply a force for a longer period of time.

 

[Cobbs]

Who sells the properties?

The last bu66er to own them! If you mean the Cornish people, bear in mind that someone who lives here and wants to carry on living here has to buy a replacement house, so has to sell well to afford it. It's a basic law of supply and demand, low supply, high cost. If we want to lower the cost of housing for everyone, throughout the country, we need to stop houses being bought and left to stand empty for most of the time. I've heard it said that we should double the council tax on holiday homes, but that only makes it more aspirational, a bit like having a Porsche penis extension rather than a little runaround sitting on your drive. In any case, if tourists really want to help the local economies, why not stay in a hotel? It would be cheaper by far and they'd be waited on when they wanted it as well as providing more employment. If they still want to own a second house then fine, but rent it out on a permanent basis.

 

[artie]

Scientific/physics geekery warning...


Accelerating from a lower speed up to 20mph will take less fuel than accelerating up to 30mph simply because getting up to 30mph means you need to apply a force for a longer period of time.

Can't disagree with that.

I'd even go further and say travelling at 20 mph all day would consume less fuel than doing the same at 30mph, IF the car was geared correctly. Unfortunately cars are set up to run economically at higher speeds.

 

[Lons]

That's a bit odd.
Ever thought of getting a vehicle to tow the motorhome instead? What about a mid sized Merc SUV?
The motorhome wouldn't need an engine then, not to mention MOT, tax, and the weight!
I'm surprised nobody has thought of it, it seems so obvious.
Could call it a "caravan" or something?
And you wouldn't need the Skoda! It's win win!!

I've had a big twin axle caravan towed by my SUV and there are advantages and disadvantages to both caravans and motorhomes. Clearly something you know little or nothing about so I'd suggest to make an attempt to experience both yourself before offering ill informed advice.

 

[Lons]

Tourism also costs such places a lot, when you take into account the second home market and how it forces up house prices for the locals. There are villages in Cornwall for instance that have 70% of the houses left empty for the vast majority of the year, just so some greedy fool can have have a day or two in his or her favourite spot, while complaining if any "affordable" houses get put up for the locals and spoil the view. This has the effect of putting up house prices, both to buy and to rent and traps a lot of people in poverty. It's high time an end was put to this - it would free up thousands and thousands of houses for use by people that need a place to live.

The housing market is really a separate subject to tourism and I agree second homes are a largely unwanted aspect that seriously affects locals, we have exactly the same along stretches of the Northumberland coasts for example.

The tourists that bring in most of the expenditure visit for short spells in vehicles staying in rented cottages, B&Bs, hotels, static and touring caravans and day visitors and spend money in pubs, shops and restaurants. Many of those are from abroad and none of these have the second homes you mention.

 

[Jacob]

I've had a big twin axle caravan towed by my SUV and there are advantages and disadvantages to both caravans and motorhomes. Clearly something you know little or nothing about so I'd suggest to make an attempt to experience both yourself before offering ill informed advice.

What I have noticed is how many friends and neighbours get set on the idea of a motor home and then struggle for a year or so until they give up and revert back to caravan or just a better quality of tent. Some barely last the first trip!
Wasn't such a bad idea in the old days when ordinary sized Bedford and VW vans were converted for camping but the bigger they get the more tedious they are to deal with.
The biggest weakness is that you can't just whip off to the shop or pub etc without totally de-camping and packing accordingly.

 

[Cobbs]

The housing market is really a separate subject to tourism and I agree second homes are a largely unwanted aspect that seriously affects locals, we have exactly the same along stretches of the Northumberland coasts for example.

The tourists that bring in most of the expenditure visit for short spells in vehicles staying in rented cottages, B&Bs, hotels, static and touring caravans and day visitors and spend money in pubs, shops and restaurants. Many of those are from abroad and none of these have the second homes you mention.

I agree that a lot of tourists stay in rented cottages, but having in my youth had to rent places, I can assure you those make a difference too. If those homes were rented out on long lets, there wouldn't be the scramble every spring, when "winter lets" suddenly throw out their tenants, causing a huge number of people to compete for the small number of properties available. There should be no such thing as "holiday homes" - either you rent the house out long term or you sell it. Tourism would still survive by using the alternatives you mention.

 

[Cobbs]

What I have noticed is how many friends and neighbours get set on the idea of a motor home and then struggle for a year or so until they give up and revert back to caravan or just a better quality of tent. Some barely last the first trip!
Wasn't such a bad idea in the old days when ordinary sized Bedford and VW vans were converted for camping but the bigger they get the more tedious they are to deal with.
The biggest weakness is that you can't just whip off to the shop or pub etc without totally de-camping and packing accordingly.

That's why a lot of them tow their own little baby car behind them...

 

[Lons]

That's why a lot of them tow their own little baby car behind them...

It's actually a very small percentage of motorhome owners who tow a little car and often for the same reasons I do, i.e. my wife has some mobility issues. Most carry bikes, walk or use public transport. We use the park and ride facilities where available.
As an aside, fuel consumption driving my 7.5m motorhome pulling the little car is significantly less than my SUV towing the 6.9m caravan and the driving far more relaxed.