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As we become increasingly mobile through having to travel further a field for work and finding that friends and family are more and more dispersed, it comes as no suprise that 1 in 10 motorists are now spending more time in their cars than at home.
The survey of 3000 people conducted by Admiral car insurance made this discovery and in addition revealed some interesting differences in the amount of time people spend in their cars by region.
London came out on top as the place where more people spend more of their time behind the wheel than on their sofa- 1 in 5, whereas just 1 in 25 people in Wales find themselves in this situation.
When it came to looking at differences between the sexes, men were found to be a staggering 3 times more likely to spend more time on the road to women, and this comes in spite of a growth in women drivers.
The Admiral survey also looked into the social element of driving, by asking respondents whether they preffered to drive alone or with a passenger. In this instance it was the Scots who preffered the solo driving experience most (67%) and drivers in Northern Ireland who favoured some company getting from a to b.
The DfT’s 2008 Regional Transport Statistics also indicate that Londoners like to drive alone as the difference in the number of trips made as the car driver as opposed to car passenger was largest in London, suggesting that when the car is used, having a passenger is not so common in the capial.
Source: The Scotsman 27th March 2009 ‘When the car is home from home’
* DfT’s 2008 Regional Transport Statistics
High petrol pump prices will do little to disuade the 18 million cars which are due to hit the road this festive season according to reports out today.
New research from the RAC suggests that 49% of Christmas drivers are intending to cut the number of journeys they make as the average litre of fuel is costing 10p more than it did a year ago. However, even though 58% of motorists are expected to drop one or more family trips over the next ten days planned engineering works on the railways is likely to create even more traffic on the roads.
The good news is that there are only 66miles of contraflow, lane restrictions and other bottlenecks will be effecting 10 motorways over the Christmas preiod as the Highways Agency have taken pro-active steps to reduce distruption on the roads at this busy time of year.
Fog and another freeze is also threatening to hamper the great christmas getaway starting this afternoon as zub-zero temperatures set to create difficult driving conditions.
The busiest time of year on the roads, is never an easy one for those travelling to visit family and friends, but good planning and a well stocked soundtrack for potentially difficult trips will go a long way in making difficult trips more bearable.
Source: The Guardian Friday 21st December 2007, The Times Friday 21st December 2007.
The Department for Transport, this summer, published a report on the travel aspirations, needs and behaviour of 16- 25 year olds which highlighted how young people in Britain get from A to B and their feelings on the transport choices available to them.
The main findings:
- Triggers on the road to adulthood, such as moving to university or starting a new job, lead to changes in travel and transport use.
- Overall, young people did not have a clear picture about how much they spent on travel.
- Both advantages (e.g independence) and disadvantages (e.g. responsibilty), of car travel were flagged up.
- Almost half (48%) of 17-25 year olds hold a driving license and cars are used for the majority of this age group’s trips.
- When choosing a car, practical, social and cultural considerations were taken into account.
- There were varied feelings about having to rely on other people for lifts ( especially where local transport provision was poor). This depended on the age of the young person, whether the driver was a family member or not, and whether the designated driver was happy to provide a lift. The main restriction of this travel option was not being able to plan last minute trips or stay out till the early hours.
- Limited public transport was met with feelings of a lack of control on personal travel. Also on a concerning note, lack of public transport after school hours meant that students often found it difficult to take part in after school activities.
- Recommendations for transport included: a need to reduce its environmental impact; increase social inclusion; improve the general quality and extent of local provision; enforce rules regarding payment of fares, road tax and insurance; and extend concessions.
- A lack of consideration for the impact of transport on the environment and health was seen as a local concern and an issue for collective reponsibility.
- Both push and pull mechanisms are involved in young people taking up driving lessons, whilst barriers to their uptake, namely cost, also exist.
- Some respondents said their travel choices reflected the travel behaviour of their older family members e.g. one girl said that she has always travelled by bus because her Mum had always done and she assumed this was the only viable option.
- There appeared to be different levels of tolerance regarding different public transport modes. People were more understanding about delays with trains than they were with buses, believing train delays to be unpreventable but bus delays to be down to staff error.
- There was a clear variation in local knowledge of public transport e.g. bus routes.
- Different transport modes were linked to different identities.
- Mood, time, money, weather, activities planned for the day and whether individuals were travelling alone or in a group, were all factors which led to people temporarily changing the mode used.
- Where criteria for choosing a college or university were equal, ease or cost of travel can be the deciding factor, often choosing students to opt for the institution closer to home.
- Some people’s transport choices were automatic, with one clear choice standing out; others were more considered- trialling different modes and weighing up the pros and cons of each; others were interdependent i.e. only one transport mode might be appropriate; whilst some, quite interestingly were, well- quite easy! as the preferred transport mode was what determined the choice of destination and not the other way around.
The RAC Foundation supports the DfT in their recommendation that young people’s views on transport must be listened to so that suitable improvements to provision can be made to meet their needs:
“Transport is both an enabler and a barrier to young peole’s access to employment, education and leisure” (DfT)
In addition, the DfT emphasise that if young people are educated about the environmental impacts of various transport modes then they will be able to make a better informed choice as to how they will travel.
We often hear of the ‘Bank of Mum and Dad’ giving first time buyers a helping hand on the proporty ladder, but according to research from Zurich, this assistance is also extending to paying motoring bills.
Parents are spending an average of £2400 a year to keep their children or grandchildren on the road according to the report and almost half (approximately 11 million) of the UK’s 28 million motorists received some financial assistance from their parents to buy their first car.
These findings illustrate that the cost of motoring for some, namely parents, is a lot higher than others, which goes to show that any increase in motoring costs, especially fuel will have a doubly wammy effect for those supporting two or more vehicles.
Source: Whatcar
Americans are leaving earlier and earlier in the morning to avoid wrestling with congested commutes and 1 in 8 are reportedly leaving before 6am. Is the UK following suit?
Recent DfT statistics (NTS, 2007) certainly suggest this is the case, with 52% of all journeys being made before 7am being accounted for by commuting. This commuting creep, caused by increased congestion is having a profound impact on lifestyles in the US.
In the words of USA Today (14th september 2007);
” It affects everything from the breakfast-food industry to television viewership trends, from traffic-signal timing to newspaper delivery times, from carpooling patterns to personal fitness regimes”
This pattern is also sadly having an impact on workers’ relationships with their families. UK policy makers often talk of people altering their travel times to beat congestion. This is obviously an important way to free up capacity on the roads, but the secondary impacts of this pattern of working should also not be forgotten. All types of methods are needed to tackle the UK congestion problem, but we should be mindful of the impact such lifestyle changes are having over the pond.
Whilst we all know the benefits to be gained from reduced car usage, i.e. environmental- CO2 reduction and health benefits- if opting for cycling or walking as opposed to another petrol burning vehicle, we also know why more people don’t get rid of their cars- their practicality and convenience.
The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Oxford University have written a report proposing the banning of cars in Central London and outer London to reduce CO2 emissions.* There are extensive public transport links in inner London (not so much in the outer areas) which suit a large proportion of Londoners, but what would service vehicles, medical professionals, taxis and disabled people do- let alone those in the outskirts needing the cars for household chores or even getting to work – for these groups the car makes their mobility needs possible.
Even for people who travel on foot and public transport during the working week, using a car to go and visit grandma on the other side of London is so much easier than taking the kids on the bus, then the tube, then another tube, then the bus- and then the same on the way home. Alternatively, if car banning was taken to the extreme and suggestions were made to apply the rule to regions rather than single cities- the freedom to leave your city without bundling onto an overcrowded train would be ended.**
Another example of the undeniable appeal and socially etched necessity of the car is the uproar arising from calls from city planners in Los Angeles to be allow developers to build apartments without any parking allocated providing their are alternative transport means nearby.***
On the other hand, the benefits of a car free life are being seen in America. A new study titled A Silver Lining? The Connection Between Gas Prices and Obesity highlighted that when petrol prices have risen in the USA, obesity rates have fallen. This is because high petrol prices are either pushing people out of their cars and onto the footpaths and public transport, or keeping them away from calorific restaurants and fast food joints because they need to keep their money for fuel.
Reducing car use where possible by using other types of transport, or by not travelling at all must of course be encouraged in a world where were are facing the problem of climate change, but banning all cars is an impractical solution, which will not be warmly received by the millions of motorists who rely on their cars to go about their daily lives.
Sources: * BBC News
** Taking transit ‘out’ of the city
*** Changing the car culture of Los Angeles
**** The Independent 13/09/07
Petrol stations are in decline according to a new report from the Petrol Retails Association (PRA). There are now less than 9500 petrol forecourts in the UK, which is the lowest number since 1912.
150 petrol stations have already closed this year, according to the oil industry body Catalist and if the current rate of decline continues, it is likely that motorists will find it more and more difficult to fill up their cars, especially in rural areas or if they have small tanks. Filling station provision differs significantly accross the country, and in a world where we are trying to reduce miles driven, it is a nonsense that more and more drivers will find themselves travelling out of their way to fill up. Filling up ‘enroute’ is obviously the sensible and option, one which is taken up by significant numbers of motorists already, but we could see a future where dedicated fuel trips become a reality as fuel companies base their station locations on the fact that consumers have the ability to travel longer distances than ever before. Action is needed to prevent this unsavoury and unsatisfactory future scenario.
(Source: Whatcar.com)
State-side, The Corporation for National and Community Service* is growing concerned about the decline in community cohesiveness in US cities; the knock-on effect of which is a plummeting number of volunteers.
This emerging trend is part and parcel of commuter neighbourhoods where residents travel long distances to their workplace spending relatively short amounts of time at home and – even more so- out and about interacting with their local community.
Equally concerned about time- consuming commutes to the workplace, albeit for different reasons, is the organisation Workwise UK which campaigns for flexible working hours whereby workers can have the choice to travel outside rush hour or even to opt for home working. The Workwise UK movement aims to reduce congestion, the environmental impact of the various transport networks and the health problems associated with current working practices (e.g. commuter stress).
The Children’s Society inquiry** echoes this call for home working after their inquiry highlighted how long working days away from the home are putting family life ‘under threat’ and in particular causing children to become ‘lonely’.
The RAC Foundation; a supporting member of Workwise UK, hopes that these new findings, along with the growing body of evidence in this area, will help to emphasise the benefits of “smarter working” to managers across the UK.
* www.planetizen.com 14th July 2007
** The Daily Mail 17th July 2007
Want a stress free life? Move to the Big Smoke!
January 2, 2008 in Comment, Congestion, Mobility | by fionacoyne | Leave a comment
More and more London workers are deciding to move nearer their places of work so as to avoid long, stressful and expensive commute.
Previously, people felt that their expensive and tiring commute was traded off with lower rent or mortgage repayments, but now, the tables have turned.
Living in Central London – the trade-off;
Benefits:
Costs:
When the benefits are presented they really are tempting to take up, so will the suburbs empty out? Watch this space…
Source: The London Lite 5th December 2007