Britons 'without a doubt' using cars less

Date: 2/2/2011

Britons are "without any question of a doubt" choosing to use their cars less frequently, as a result of rising fuel prices and financial concerns following the recession.

Such is the opinion of Keith Peat, Founder of the Driver's Protest Union, who said a trend began to emerge at the end of 2007, when a price hike meant fuel reached a cost of 130 p per litre.

In line with this, he claimed that accidents fell - which may suggest there were less motorists on the road at this time.

"I was able to track simply by the number of [fatalities] that the impact of fuel costs was reducing vehicle use without any question. You could see if you track the accident and fatal incident rate," he explained.

Mr Peat added that in 2008 when fuel prices went down, the number of deaths on roads increased, but by the end of that year the figures had reversed again.

TV Motoring Journalist Quentin Willson will next week lead a delegation from the FairFuelUK campaign to lobby the Treasury with a large banner in an attempt to urge the Chancellor to abandon the planned Fuel Duty increase in April, amid rising petrol and diesel costs.

Posted by Mary Treen