PamelaJ1, I quite agree with you. I really despair of our political system when politicians are so determined to do the macho stuff of flying aeroplanes around the country but will not do anything about the total freedom to drive! OK, I know that would lead to a lot of "Whitabootery" - "Whitaboot the pensioners", "Whitaboot the disabled" etc - but there are plenty of places where public transport is available for the able-bodied but is either too expensive or not at the right times, and could be easily sorted.
As for the population problem, it seems to me that one of the most important things to do is to educate girls. Apparently when girls are educated, they do not (need to) have such large families, partly because they know how to look after them better and prevent infant deaths and partly because they can get better jobs and put off having family in their teens. Sounds like a win-win to me.