Richard Yarrow’s opinion for www.startrescue.co.uk, providing low cost Breakdown Assistance cover.
I’m certainly not saying that higher fuel prices are a good thing. I’m as cheesed off as the next driver about watching the pump read-out tick past £40, £50, £60 and even £70 when I need to fill up. But one positive has come out of it; it’s making motorists think about their car use a whole lot more than they ever did when prices were lower.
The stats are telling. People are leaving it longer to fill up, increasing the number of “I’ve run out of fuel” calls to car breakdown operators. They’re also making fewer journeys and combining events on a single trip, eg, calling in at the shops on the way back from dropping kids off at school because they’re already in the area. Less journeys means drivers are buying less fuel, and there’s factual evidence of that, too. Congestion levels are down and record numbers of people are cycling and walking.
For a nation that has been sliding the way of America in terms of inactivity and obesity, getting people moving under their own steam can only be a good thing. And less car use generally is no bad thing.
Talking about driving children around, here’s a personal story. We live about ¾ of a mile from the kids’ school, and we get up early enough in our house to make sure they can walk it every day, rain or shine. There’s no need to drive it… but plenty of people in our village who live closer than us regularly do. Short journeys in a cold car use the most fuel, and I wonder how high the forecourt price is going to have to go before some drivers realise they could reorganise their lives very slightly to avoid using the car at all.
Now, you’ll probably wondering what the big blue car in the picture has to do with any of this. The answer is nothing. It’s just a great picture! Chevrolet has made a life-size replica of its new Orlando MPV out of blue Play-Doh and parked it on a London street. Why? No idea.