The Godfather: Peter Corris on the tyranny of the motor car
Recently, I was walking up Watkin Street from Wilson towards King in Newtown on a Saturday afternoon. The street was parked solid and as one car pulled away another, whose driver must have been lurking and dwelling on the spot, slid in. The look of satisfaction on the face of the female driver told the story – parking spaces at busy times in Newtown are, to use an old-fashioned expression, as rare as hen’s teeth.
Staying with thoughts of times gone by, it’s obvious that the streets of the inner-west were not made for the traffic they carry and still less to be narrowed by parked cars on either side. There are prophets of doom at all ages. In the early days of the motor car there were fears about noise and speed, but not, as far as I know, about its proliferation and the problems it would present when moving en masse or when stationary.
I’m not an admirer of Peter Carey’s novels, but I found many of his early short stories compelling. One in particular (I forget its name) has a car enter a street in England and cause the entire road system, from John O’Groats to Land’s End, already choked with cars moving and parked, to gridlock. It was a frightening scenario brilliantly realised.
Jean, who does all the driving now that I can’t, due to my eyesight, often takes buses and occasionally taxis simply because she is reluctant to surrender a parking space she has found close to the house. When she does drive, she frequently has to circle the neighbourhood many times to secure a reasonably close slot, which may only be valid for a short time.
When arranging to meet people at a pub, a restaurant or at home at a specific time, we routinely warn the in-comers to leave time for parking. It’s a frequent topic of conversation among the residents and visitors. Unlike us, some people surrender their small back courtyards to the tyranny of the motor car.
Not so long ago someone remarked that the world already had all the tennis racquets it would need for the next 50 years. I can’t help thinking that the same is true of cars.
But as soon as that thought is aired the problems arise. One is political and industrial. Listening to the current debate about governmental support for the car industry in Australia, I heard a pundit say the car industry was subsidised in every country in the world to support employment and manufacturing. This appears to be an essential ingredient of national pride.
Then there is the social dilemma. Some European cities prohibit heavy and delivery vehicles entering the CBD after 6 AM. Others restrict passenger vehicles to the outer limits and provide a ‘park and ride’ public transport system. Both ideas seem to help and are needed in Sydney. But, such is our love of the car, the government that applied these palliatives would certainly lose at the next election. It would be a version of Jim Hacker’s greatest fear – a courageous decision.
Both you and Cliff Hardy make me smile with your parking observations! It brought to mind TV episodes of Seinfeld where New York vehicular congestion is a major topic of conversation. George once parked in The Perfect Spot but sadly (or humorously) his car was damaged by a freak accident. The bus suits me, I can read and text on a bus.
In Newtown we have what’s known as ‘touch-parking’.
Over the years, in my outer suburb, I’ve noticed that more and more drivers park their cars in the street and good driveways go to waste. Can’t understand it myself.