Cars are responsible for more than half of all carbon emissions from transport and are the main culprit when it comes to air pollution and congestion on our roads.
Yet for many people driving is their first, and sometimes only choice, when it comes to getting around. But too many cars are not only bad for the planet, they are bad for our health, our wellbeing and the economy.
Air pollution is responsible for tens of thousands of UK deaths each year and children exposed to air pollution are at risk of life-limiting health problems. Switching away from petrol and diesel to cleaner fuels is helping to improve air quality but will not entirely solve the problem. Because much particulate matter doesn’t come from a car’s tailpipe, we also need to reduce the number of cars on our roads, yet the electric revolution is expected to do the opposite and add even more cars to the roads.
Road congestion costs the UK economy billions a year and impacts on our health and wellbeing. We cannot build our way out of congestion with more and bigger roads because of a phenomenon called ‘induced traffic’. This means that the more road capacity we create, the more traffic uses it. This ’extra’ traffic means that the predicted congestion benefits of a new road are often quickly eroded. Traffic levels on bypassed roads can also rise faster than expected due to induced traffic, all of which means the hoped-for benefits of a new road can evaporate very quickly. The only way to reduce congestion is to have fewer cars on the roads.
For the millions of people who do not have access to a car – mainly older and younger people, disabled people and those on lower incomes – a society built around the car means they can end up neglected and excluded.
“Car dependency damages communities, affects our quality of life and has huge environmental consequences. We urgently need to address our car culture and give people more choice about how they move around”
Paul Tuohy, Campaign for Better Transport
The way motoring is taxed needs to change. As petrol and diesel are phased out, the money raised by fuel tax is declining – not helped by fuel duty having been frozen for over a decade – and vehicle excise duty is no longer fit for purpose. We advocate replacing both with a pay-as-you-drive scheme based on how far you travel and the pollution you cause. This would be fairer than the current system and, far from being an unacceptable concept to the public, is in fact one that the majority of people believe can be implemented fairly and could in fact save most drivers money.
Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, or LTNs, aim to help boost sustainable transport and improve quality of life in urban areas by reducing car use and increasing walking and cycling levels. There is much evidence to suggest that LTNs bring real benefits to people’s local environments, benefiting people on low incomes and from ethnic minorities more. To prevent traffic being displaced to neighbouring roads, LTNs need to be a part of a wider strategy to move people towards greener and healthier ways to travel and work best alongside other measures, including safe walking and cycling routes, good public transport, car club provision and parking controls.
To ensure schemes are accessible and inclusive, they must be introduced after proper planning and consultation with local residents and businesses, and address the needs of disabled people in particular.
Cleaner fuels are of course a key component in reducing carbon emissions from transport. The Government has now set a date of 2035 for the end of the sale of new petrol and diesel cars, but it will still take another generation before all petrol and diesel cars are off the roads. And with electric vehicles projected to increase road traffic in the UK by more than 50 per cent, it will do nothing to tackle congestion or car dependency.
“Decarbonising transport should not be all about replacing fossil-fuelled vehicles with electric ones. More action is needed to limit traffic growth, shifting travel to public transport and active travel.” Climate Change Committee
We want to see the negative impacts of cars tackled by:
"I have never learnt to drive because I have epilepsy so I've always relied solely on public transport to get around. I find that using public transport gives me some downtime before or after a long day at work."
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