Safe Speed Forums

The DfT have today published their annual 'National Travel Survey'. They issued this PR:

DEPARTMENT FOR TRANSPORT
TR-022 (084) 28 July 2005

NATIONAL TRAVEL SURVEY: 2004

The Department for Transport has today published National Statistics
on the travel habits of residents in Great Britain.

The main changes between 1992/94 and 2004 include:

* The average annual distance travelled by residents in Great Britain
rose by 5 per cent to 6,800 miles in 2004, reflecting a 12 per cent
increase in the average length of trip from 6.1 miles to 6.8 miles.
* The average number of trips per person per year fell by 6 per cent
to about 990.
* The average time spent travelling around Great Britain has remained
at about 360 hours per person per year, or about an hour a day.
* The proportion of households in Great Britain without access to a
car fell from 33 per cent to 26 per cent in 2004.
* The proportion of women holding full car driving licences increased
from 54 to 61 per cent, while the proportion of men holding licences
remained at 81 per cent. Licence holding among all those aged 60-69
rose from 57 to 72 per cent.
* Car travel accounts for four fifths of the total distance
travelled. Overall, the distance travelled by car drivers per person
per year increased by 8 per cent.
* The number of walking trips per person per year fell by a fifth.
* The number of commuting trips per person per year fell by 7 per
cent, but the average trip length rose by 13 per cent.
* The proportion of primary-aged children walking to school declined
from 61 to 50 per cent, with an increase from 30 to 41 per cent in
the numbers being driven to school. For secondary school pupils, the
proportion walking to school stayed about the same at 44 per cent,
whilst those going by car rose from 16 to 22 per cent.

======================================
The National Travel Survey report is here:

http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/d ... 39294.hcsp

======================================

Safe Speed issued the following PR at 11:47 today:

PR222: Modal shift remains a dream. Road pricing is revealed as a nightmare.

News: for immediate release

Official figures released today show an increase in car usage as usual. People
make appropriate individual travel choices irrespective of the dim-witted
ideology espoused - and imposed - by Government.

The National Travel Survey reveals that four fifths of journeys are undertaken
by car and that this percentage is unchanged over the last decade. John
Prescott's words in 1997 (I will have failed if, in five years' time,
there are not fewer journeys undertaken by car) will haunt him once again.

Importantly the Government's innumerate fears of a congestion explosion are
proved to be false because the average time spent travelling is unchanged. If
it takes too long to travel people change their plans. This factor signposts
the most fundamental flaw in proposed road pricing policy.

Paul Smith, founder of the Safe Speed road safety campaign
(www.safespeed.org.uk) said: "The market makes transport choices and
the Government must support real world transport choice. The Government's
transport ideologies are being ignored by the travelling public who prefer to
make an appropriate and optimal choice for each individual journey. The
Government must stop their programme of interference and do their job as
facilitators properly. Dreams of modal shift have not materialised and never
will."

"Road pricing is revealed as fundamentally flawed because the number of hours
spent travelling remains constant. If there's congestion people are assessing
the delay and choosing not to travel or making alternative arrangements. The
Governments proposals ignore this vital self-regulating behaviour."

"Road safety has appeared to benefit from a 20% reduction in walking.
Pedestrian fatalities have fallen by 40% from 1994 to 2004. It is now clear
that half this benefit is due to reduced exposure to road risks. Is this how
the Department for Transport works towards meeting its road safety targets?"

"These figures reveal fundamental flaws in many areas of Department for
Transport policy. The DfT clearly takes the prize as the 'department most
divorced from reality'. Sweeping change is long overdue. Let's start at the
top Mr Darling."

<ends>

_________________
Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

Just had a peek at Tw*tsport2000 site. Always good for a giggle. It has finaly showed up on their radar.

Check this out.....


Its a bit like putting fingers in both ears and going "la lala lala lala"...

2002.....maybe the DfT should update their reaserch

Must be a real p*sser that three quarters of households now have a car.

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Speed camera policy Kills

They mean a third of people thought the "right" answer was to make some noises to the effect that they really would like to walk or cycle but they needed some lame excuse why they don't.

Why do people feel they have to excuse themselves? It's just b:censored:x

I walk to work because I want to. I like walking, Its something I do as a hobby, it wakes me up. I don't look down on my colleague who lives nearer and drives. It's (generally described as) a free country.

Hold on. in the past 10 years there has been a explosion of cycle lanes, special cycle parking provision, dramatic increase in car parking charges and a general persecution of the motorist by local authorities

Has there been a migration from car travel to walking,cycling and public transport............no

So basically what people say when you stick a clipboard in their face and what they do are two completely different things...

Or maybe its how you ask the questons..........

_________________
Speed camera policy Kills

Related to the above, the "joined up" government which we have recently changed the planning guidance allowing developers to build flats and houses with an allowance of only 0.5 parking spaces per household (down from 1.5).

This is all to do with greater housing density and discouraging the use of cars but is like King Canute pushing back the tide with the sturdy paddle of political correctness. Even people who cycle to work have cars and need somewhere to park them.

All this will lead to is endless disputes about parking. And then you get the letters to the local paper about people destroying the neighbourhood by tarmacing their front gardens and parking there.

_________________
Malcolm W.
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.

The fact I love is that people in non car-owning households make more journeys by car than by public transport.

See this report from "Local Transport Today":



We shouldn't forget how many people depend on lifts.

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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

Freedom of choice...............don't buy one.

We have a scheme like this in a development in Leicester. It just means there is more roadside parking conjestion.

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Speed camera policy Kills

atually from a council' point of view it makes sense.

do we:
1 allow flats with off-street parking but at a lower density?

Less council tax income harder to reach development targets.

2 allow flats with limited parking?

more council tax income, better results on targets and we can put resident parking zones in and double yellow lines and collect money for parking too.

It's one area where people certainly don't have freedom of choice.

Freedom of choice within a budget yes. But not total freedom of choice.

Look on the bright side, it bumps up the value of my 2xparking and a garage and room on the road for two more property.