RAC: Many car journeys unnecessary

Posted :10-07-2006

Approximately 20 per cent of all car journeys in the country are unnecessary, according to the RAC.

Nevertheless, local authorities are not doing enough to help people avoid car journeys and use more eco-friendly transportation, the RAC said.

Decreasing car journeys could have a massive impact on drivers car insurance premiums, as well as fighting pollution.

Edmund King, executive director of the RAC Foundation, said: "In many local authorities, transport choice is Hobson's choice – in order to get to work on time, visit families or take the kids to school, it is the car or nothing.

"The car is the personal choice of the majority and decision-makers need to engage seriously with the practical and emotional influences underpinning this if they want to persuade motorists to make different travel choices."

Travel by automobile has risen three per cent over the last decade and the distance travelled has risen by a full ten per cent, the RAC discovered.

According to the managing director of the AA, car insurance premiums are set to rise, due to an industry wide rise in high claims costs.


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