Man vs. Car - in London

As an antidote to the terrible events in London last week, here's a little something to cheer you up. Tonight on Top Gear - the UK's most popular driving program - we were shown a challenge between car and runner. Each had to cover the same London Marathon course through Central London during rush hour, from Greenwich round to Westminster and back again, or thereabouts. Even with it being London, and knowing that the average speed of cars in London is 10.6 miles per hour, you would have to bet on the car, right? After all, marathon runners can only get up to about 15 mph, and there had to be sections of the 26 mile course, where the car would get way ahead of the typical runner and easily win the race.

Wrong! Although the car was initially in front (in a quiet part of Greenwich), it was quickly overtaken and never caught up. The runner won by a good 10 minutes.

Ok, so it's a runner not a normal commuter, but there's an important lesson here. It's total lunacy to drive around London. For short journeys you might as well walk. Am I the only person who thinks this in London? It seems so, given the zillions of people who struggle through the congestion charging zone every day.

Anyway, you can find out more about it here.