In Reply to: The speed limit should be 50km/h on the ribbon. posted by Huh on July 12, 2006 at 22:52:42:

So let the killing continue? Many many more people killed on the single carriage country roads than motorways or dual carriageways.

The politicians have sown the seeds. The taxpayer will now pay to bail them out.

They didn't demolish the Liffey Valley Centre - even though it was built where it should not have been built on proven corruption. The taxpayer forks out for wider roads and technical fixes attempting to reduce the jams and snarls around the N4 junction.

Whatever about coming to our senses and stopping further ribbon development it's unlikely that they will demolish any existing houses. But the taxpayer will have to fork out for bypasses, long-distance sewerage systems, hundreds of miles of footpaths where 10s would suffice, pedestrian crossings where there should not be crossings, rural bus/taxi systems all of which will cost much more than if houses were grouped adjacent to services.

At least until the price of fuel reaches the point where they cry enough and abandon the 'rural idyll as happened in the 80s. (Or the EU forbids government to subsidise a way of living that is fundamentally unsustainable from social and environmental point of view?). The CO2 footprint of a ribbon dweller is enormous - much higher than even someone living in New York funnily enough.