Three empty seats and a ton of metal and plastic...

[Loosehead]

Why are we so, almost surgically, attached to this incredibly innefficient form of transport, what can society do? is motoring too cheap if the masses have it? Where did we go wrong? Why is my kid's school mobbed with Chelsea tractors every morning from mums who live half a mile away? How did we end up so hopelessly beholden to petrol? Your answers most welcome!  

[OBonio]

Lazy.

[MargeB]

status symbol.

I don't think you should be trying to remove the 4x4s from the Mum's, just encourage them to shop in stores with concrete carparks with less rhinos.

Massive tax on all big 4x4s. And on Barbour jackets too.

[Andy008]

Having used to live in Surrey, I found the procession of these massive wagons outside the school gates absurdly hilarious. With a petite mum and her little angels on the back seat of these military grade monster trucks on once-quaint Guildford lanes...oh the memories.

[Elfin]

Believe it or not, some people need a 4x4 to get into town at times.  We don't all live in cities/towns/villages with public transport readily available and we sometimes have the more inconvenient side of nature to contend with. That's one good reason for not having a blanket ban/tax on 4x4s.

I used to drop my child at school in a 4x4 on my way to work.  As schools tend to be in towns and I was going to work, I can't see a way round that.

Back to the question - I think it's more of a problem that many people don't live near to where they work.  That accounts for probably the majority of petrol dependence and wastage in my view.  I pass the same cars day in and day out on the journey to and from work and often wonder why we all seem to "swap places" during daylight hours. 

[Ouisch]

Folks that build those 4 X 4s are making a living because other people buy them.  If absolutely everyone used public transport, think of the other people that would be unemployed.

Not to mention, not everyone has public transport readily available in their area.  Plus, what if you purchase something large and ungainly (like furniture, home improvement supplies, etc) from the store.  How do you get that home on the bus?  A large vehicle is often a necessity.  Just because it's not readily apparent to you when you drop off your kids at school doesn't mean it's frivolous.

[MargeB]

I see your point, but it's just not worth the risk. Children in the UK are at risk of illness specifically as a result of pollution, and we are all at risk due to climate change; and a great contributor to this problem is 4x4 vehicles. Oil and other fossil fuels are in very short supply, yet many people are happy to go round in 4x4s or SUVs just so that they can keep up with the Jones's.

[Loosehead]

we focusing too much on 4X4's people. What about the more general points!

[MargeB]

I think the answer is

1) a natural predisposition because of the freedom it brings and the status symbol it represents

2) the Thatcher years of road expansions made the country car-focussed as our main transport of choice.

[LeMarchand]

Having a car means that you can go where you want, when you want - without having to wait at your departure point for transport that is invariably late or early, if indeed it is even available.

My journey to/from my main job would involve multiple buses/trains/walks and take around 90 to 120 minutes each way without a car, not 15 to 20 minutes. Returning from my night job would be a very expensive taxi.

People with 4x4's that don't need the extra traction should be forced to pull their children to scool in a rickshaw.

[libertie]

When my children were little I did'nt drive but I can remember quite cleary some nightmarish journeys on public transport involving 2 small boys and several bags of shopping on crowded buses usually squashed next to someone who was not only a stranger to me but also to soap water and a can of Sure! On a more serious note though I can quite understand people's reluctance to use public transport, if I was to travel to work by bus it would involve waiting at the stop for a bus which would likely be late having to change buses half way there with a 20 minute wait and a half mile walk to my work place, on the other hand I can jump in my car and be there in 15 mins or less ~ no contest really!!

[LittleMouse]

Try living in a very rural situation with no public transport and working in an area where there are no large organisations so car sharing is almost impossible. Combine with breadline rural wages and every working member of the family needs their own transport to get jobs which are probably at least 10 miles away.  Three empty seats and a ton of metal and plastic become a necessity.

[Hermia]

It's a shame they don't have school buses anymore. A local private school has one, but none of the state schools do.  My school was quite hard to get to so parents used to have to drive kids in. A school bus would've been great.

[osh]

Why is it that people always bang on about Terrible 4x4's - Granted your average housewife driving 1/2 mile to the school in them should be shot, but what about other big cars, BMW's, Mercs, Jags.  Almost all have as big a footprint on the road, as big engines etc.  What about these!!

The current system of fuel tax works (although expensively) you have a 5 litre car, you use more petrol, you pay more tax, you have a 1.1 litre car, visa versa.  This is one reason why these new proposals of charge by the mile travelled, fall on its face. (but thats a different kettle of fish)

[tracymort]

This does drive me mad too! When i walk my children to school we often beat parents there, by the time they have got their children in the mpv and then out again the other end we have walked it.
Can't see how motoring is too cheap though, i can't afford to learn to drive. I really wish i could though as my children miss out on many things (parties or after school clubs) as we can't get there. I'm isolated and can't mix with other Mums because i can't go the places they do.
When i do eventually drive i will still walk my children to school though! Wears them out and they sleep better. They learn things along the way.
Having boys I also find they need that energy expenditure first thing, then they will concentrate in school.

[davver]

Absurdity: I drive a 1.8litre diesel peugeot 205 which does 45-50 mpg, but have to pay the same road tax (�170) as, say a big old Jag or a brand new Range Rover that does about 12mpg. It's the same for our Land Rover which does 30 mpg. I think there should be more bands of tax, taking into account the fact that a diesel engine is a lot more efficient than a petrol engine of the same size. They also last longer which is more efficient again.

Personally, apart from traffic, I don't see tha problem with having lots of cars on the road. It may be silly to have a lot of people going separately when they could be sharing a lift, but let them! We should have the freedom to do so, even if it doesn't make the most sense. Local environmental impact is either unavoidable or negligible, and large-scale environmental impact is questionable, especially with the better technology that is coming in all the time.

[davver]

Apologies. At the beginning of my second paragraph in the answer above, I meant to write 'the', not 'tha'. I hope that clears things up; I'm not a rapper (which, frankly, should have been evident anyway by my choice of car).

[Mrs_Pegasus]

There is also the safety aspect.  Isnt it frightening that you feel letting your child walk to school is not safe?  I walked over a mile to school when I was young (with my older sister who would have been about 14) and the biggest worry back then was us crossing the road safely.  Nowadays it doesnt matter where we live there is always that chance our children could be a victim of an abduction or even worse.  Is this why we feel we have to drive them everywhere?

How many mums just drop their children off at school and then spend the day being a housewife?  Not many, I for one dont even have the time to drop my daughter off at school because I have to be 20 miles away by 8.30.  I live in a rural location and like someone said before if I worked in the village I would be on the minimum wage and would struggle to make ends meet.

[Coobeastie]

What makes me laugh is that we used to have a large rail network that meant you could go to many towns by train. Most of these seem to have gone now and the cost of a short notice journey is extortionate.

Its still often a lot cheaper to drive.

[carras]

Part of the problem is the dismal public transport. Why off-roaders are allowed on the road beats me, they are too big and as a small car user I frequently find myself blinded when trying to pull out of a carpark slot or turn a cormer.

I would happily reduce my use of the car if there was a suitable public transport system to meet my needs!

[blue virgin]

Public transport in the U.K is nothing short of a joke. The government want to (apparently) encourage people to use it more, although bearing in mind how much tax they make on petrol, I'm sure they can't be too keen on the though of all that money going to private businesses instead.

The companies that run the buses and trains don't seem to realise that to sell something you have to make it good value for money. Why should I stand in the wind and rain (because some lout has smashed all the glass in the bus shelter again) for however long it takes the bus driver to decide he wants to turn up, only be met with a sign that says "exact change only"?! Would you shop somewhere that was this inflexible? Funny how the fare always seems to be 1.90 or something similar. In other words "we know you won't have exact change, and you'll just bung in 2 quid and we get even more".

I went into a supermarket in Canada a couple of years ago. After I paid for my goods, my change was spat out of a little machine at the end of the conveyor belt. If they aren't confident in the drivers ability to count out change, there is always a machine that can do if for them, and take almost no time at all. Add to that the drunks, urine stained seats, rubbish, erratic driving, and poor punctuality, and I think I'll stick to my car thank you very much.

The trains may be slightly better, and easier to get on, but you never know if you'll make it to the other end alive. Any airline that had a safety record equal to that of the train network, would never had stayed in business.