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A report published yesterday by the left-wing IPPR think-tank claims that "the war on the motorist is a myth" and fuel taxes should be raised without delay. See here.

Hmm, could have fooled me

One of its most ludicrous suggestions is that motorists could cut costs by driving less, as if they spend much of their time swanning around on frivolous leisure trips.

Very effectively demolished by Chris Snowdon at the Adam Smith Institute:

No war on motorists? Tell that to the world outside Central London

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

I will concede that commuters cannot easily reduce their mileage. But that is often a life style choice which must be paid for. And motorists do spend a lot of time on frivolous leisure trips. It took me almost ten minutes to cross the A6 near High Lane last Sunday because there was constant stream of traffic in both directions. And I doubt if they were all travelling to work at 2pm on a Sunday. And the crowded car parks at out of town shopping centres are hardly indicative of a population squeezed by the cost of motoring



If that is a demolition, let alone an effective one, then I am Bradley Wiggins' The graph in that article actuallly shows that total cost of motoring has remained substantially constant or fallen slightly in real terms over the last 20 years whilst the cost of public transport has risen by 50%. Hardly "soaking the motorist"

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

Quite right. I should do the weeks shopping using the public omnibus, and my travel concession pass.
Oh wait.....not allowed to have a load of bags...bitch.
There are going to be hard times for tesco if motoring is to be only commuting, they'll have to expand their fleet of vans.
Holidays will be fun...I'll have to time my departure to, and return from holidays to account for bus timetables (last week there were four buses a day at the village I stayed).
Trains are out, as my DIL says.... "can't get to f*****g work at weekends on the f******g train....I pay the f******g season ticket and have to go on a f*****g bus, and it takes twice as long"
So she drives to London by car....and saves 2.5 hours a day when she does.
Going to Scotland.....don't bother with the train. Take a taxi to the airport...flying is cheaper....stuff the emissions up the exhaust pipe.
And after next years 11% season ticket raise there are going to be LOADS of people driving....
Maybe that is why the left-wing (AKA we-know-what-is-best-for-you green communists) want to raise fuel taxes...it cannot be for the money because every raise means people drive less..... (loads of companies now give their staff cash for fuel.....another little tax loser)
Not that it will bother the tax-avoiding/evading wastes-of-time in parli-lament...with their tax-haven family trusts (you listenin' Georgie ?)

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The world runs on oil, period. No other substance can compete when it comes to energy density, flexibility, ease of handling, ease of transportation. If oil didn’t exist we would have to invent it.”

56 years after it was decided it was needed, the Bedford Bypass is nearing completion. The last single carriageway length of it.We have the most photogenic mayor though, always being photographed doing nothing

I do that. The bus makes a detour to Tesco and I have never been refused because I am carrying bags.


I am going on holiday to Plymouth next week by train. Quiker and cheaper and less stressful than driving.ce as long"


Quite agree. For journeys exceeding a 1000 clicks flying is probably the most sensible. I you can tolerate the ritual humiliations associated with airports.


Exactly my point. The war isn't on motorists whose costs are substantially constant but on those who prefer their surface transport by other means. Their cost are rising a great deal.

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

Certainly for me flying North is cheaper now by a quarter than driving, although I love to drive. However even to use the plane I had to do either an approx 100 journey to the airport or arrange a train but I had al sorts of goods that needed to be with me complicating the journey and making the car journey a must.
Convenience of car for goods and time is hard to beat!

The costs of car is not 'just fuel' of course but many find the increase in costs of motoring (vehicle parts, tyres and servicing, maintenance, MOT, insurance, congestion charges and toll charges, parking fees and fines, longer routes around towns and cities to get to chosen destinations, and everything else that I haven't listed) just keep going up and up. Every time fuel costs increase, it usually puts up all purchased items for everyone.
The knock on effects are far reaching too.

I also agree that the time it takes to use public transport can be expensive and time consuming. I recently tried to get into London for a meeting and it failed in the end. First I had a 5 miles journey to the nearest train station. Then an overnight delay meant a £10 extra cost on the return journey, then I found out that all trains to London on this very day were all disrupted as there had been a triple suicide incident.

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