TRENSPORT (Mini-articles) Index

Britain's 26 million drivers now understand more about the environmental impact of the car but have an unabated lust for anything on four wheels, the 1995 Lex Report on Motoring revealed today. Assuming money were no problem, half of all current one-car families said they would buy another, and a quarter of two-car families would mover up to three. The average household would like to have 2.05 cars, rather than the current 1.52. Yet the net effect would be another 8 million cars on the roads-- million. 15 per cent of families with one car, and 13 per cent of families with two expect to have another within two years. This alone is likely to bring another 1.5 million cars on the roads by 1996. Although they want more cars, drivers are less inclined to believe that more and bigger roads are the answer to Britain's traffic problems. While in 1990, around 40 per cent thought that investing in better roads would help reduce congestion and pollution, only 18 per cent of drivers now think this is the case.

Daily Telegraph, 18 January 1995

If there is one main culprit of civic decay, it is the supremacy of the automobile. Long ago, when Americans first fell in love with them, they were a luxury, not a necessity. Now, in sprawling residential estates that contain no places of work and few shops and often lack all public transport, people have no choice but to climb into their cars. That puts more exhaust fumes into lungs. It also has profound psychological and therefore political effects.

The chief casualty is probably the family. Where children do not live in close proximity to one another, they find it hard to make the casual acquaintance that can lead to lasting friendship. Children who are themselves too young to drive have to rely on their parents to get them around. But the parents are often too busy driving to and from work to act as chauffeurs for junior. The more time that has to be spent in the car dealing with life's necessities, the less free time there is to spend with spouse and children. No wonder that so many kids stayed glued to the television.

From A Better Place to Live, 1994