THE DRIVE OF YOUR LIFE!
25% of Britain’s car journeys are less than 2 miles, that’s a 30 min walk or a 12 min bike ride! 50% of journeys are less than 5 miles.
17% of car journeys are travelling to and from work.
School journeys are estimated at 17.5% of morning peak traffic in urban areas in term time.
The British have the longest commute times in Europe, averaging 46 mins to get to work.
Exposure to pollutants inside a car can be three times as high as that of pedestrians or cyclists outside!
If half of UK motorists received a lift one day a week, pollution would be reduced by 10% and traffic jams by 20%.
There are 38 million empty seats on the road every day.
The British make the least use of alternatives to the car of all European countries.
For urban journeys, cycling beats a car in peak hours and is quicker than a bus for journeys up to 5 miles.
30% of all motorists are unaware of how much their car costs to run. (RAC Report 2003)
THE TRUE COST….
Traffic jams cost the economy £5 billion every year in lost productivity
The cost of running a car in Britain’s averages at £438 a month.
UK household spend £1 in every £6 on motoring.
The smaller your car, the cheaper it is to run.
For the cost of running a car you could spend £7 a day on taxis.
Research shows the average commuter can save £1,000 per year by car sharing, that’s a holiday away in the Summer!
UK businesses could save £2.6 billion a year by driving their cars in a ‘greener’ way.
A single car parking space can cost an employer at least £500 a year (Department of Health 2002).
THE ALTERNATIVES
When there is a good travel plan in place, 18% of car drivers change how they travel.
10 bikes take up the same space as 1 car parking space, reducing car parking pressure.
The average double-decker bus carries as many people as 20 cars and takes up just a seventh of the road space.
One UK private sector employer reports annual ‘working from home’ productivity savings of 20-30% (£4.2m per annum)
72% of people who work from home say they get more done at home than when in the office (AT&T 2000).
77% of people who work from home are more satisfied with their career now than before working from home (AT&T 2000)
80% of people working at home feel a greater commitment to their employer (ITAC 2001).
HEALTHY OPTIONS!
We are all walking less, and driving more. In the last 15 years the annual distance we walk has dropped 20%, while distance driven has increased by 40%.
Physical inactivity is costing the country £8.2 billion a year. Walking and cycling are easily accessible ways for many people to become more active.
Coronary heart disease is the biggest killer of adults in this country. Regular walking or cycling reduces the risks of coronary heart disease by up to 50% and a stroke by 66%.
Heart disease rates would drop by 5-10% if a third of all short car journeys were made by bike.
Regular exercise can reduce the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s by up to 40% for people aged 65 and over. Research shows walking for 15 mins three times a week is enough to cut the risk.
A 15 min bike ride to and from work, 5 times a week burns off the equivalent of 11lbs of fat in a year.
Around 100 bicycles can be produced for the same energy and resources it takes to build 1 car. (TravelWise)
Bus users, walking and cycling face a third less pollution than car users.
89% of British households have a bus stop within a 6 minute walk. (Transport 2000)
Twice as many women (15%) walk to work as men (7.3%) (DfT 2003).
