Most motorists back less car use but few get on board

30 January 2008

Around two-thirds of adults believe individuals should reduce their car use for the sake of the environment, but only a handful have actually done so.

A government survey found that, despite the good intentions of the majority, only around 5% of car-users said they had reduced car use in the preceding year due to environmental concerns.

The survey, conducted for the Department for Transport, found that 70% of the public spontaneously selected emissions from road transport as a cause of climate change.

But support was far higher for ‘soft’ measures to encourage alternative modes, such as improved public transport, rather than measures that would increase the cost of car travel.

Spending more on improving bus services was the most popular policy to reduce transport emissions (60% support), while respondents also backed more safe routes to school (55%), measures to encourage car sharing (42%), and higher taxes on higher-emission cars (42%).

Local congestion charging and increasing car parking charges were less popular, with support of 18% and 7% respectively.

Unsurprisingly, people who used a car every day were significantly less likely to be concerned about climate change than those who drove less often – 20% of people who drove every day were very concerned, compared with 42% of those who drove less than once a month or never.

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