Perhaps it’s my sense of humor, but ever since I came accross a post on Ian Walker’s Blog, I’ve been dying to give this a try and see how people react. In fact, I think this is a perfect discussion to follow my “So Where Should We Ride” post. The hypothetical situation Mr. Walker explores is that he has
a really big wooden crate — it’s a little over 4 metres long and just under 2 metres wide — and it won’t fit in my house. I’m the only person who gets any benefit from my having this crate — indeed, my ownership of the crate is actually bad for you. I didn’t really care about the fact I had nowhere to keep the crate when I bought it; I wanted it and so I got it anyway. So now, because it won’t fit in my house, I’m just going to leave it in the street.
Think about this… how is it any different than people parking their personal automobiles on a public roadway in front of a private residence? I’m sure I’d have the police on my doorstep in no time if I dropped a car size crate on the road in front of my house, but nothing would happen if I park my car out there. Couple this with research by the electric car manufacturer that comes out of London where they found
that the average daily journey in urban areas is 23 miles, with the car at rest for 92% of each day
and that becomes a HUGE amount of infrastructure dedicated to the storage of personal items. So what can be done about this?