30th May 2007

We are used to governments and ecomentalists not having a good word to say about cars and how we use them. But now, some commercial organisations and charities are becoming equally negative, too. Such outfits are playing right into the hands of the politicians and green activists by making us out to be addicted to our vehicles.

	Outfits such as the RAC are playing right into the hands of the politicians by making us out to be addicted to our vehicles

Take the RAC, for example. On 3 May, it issued a warning predicting that Britain was about to be hit with its "worst EVER bank holiday congestion". Not content with that, the RAC issued another warning that "increased congestion is set to send British drivers over the edge". Really? How, exactly, can this organisation decide on behalf of motorists that we're going over the edge?

A few days later, bosses at the RAC Foundation (which is a motoring charity representing drivers, and nothing to do with the RAC, which is the breakdown service) also decided to pipe up about the horror of jams. This culminated in an RACF warning that drivers "must" use in-car technology in order to avoid congestion. Must we? Is it the job of the RACF charity to tell us what expensive gizmos we must buy for our cars?

One week on, and the RACF issued a headline that the ecomentalists will have great fun with: "COMMUTERS TRAVEL TWO-AND-A-HALF TIMES AROUND THE WORLD DURING THEIR WORKING LIFE." The charity reckons that 25 million people in this country commute to and from a fixed place of work, and that 72 per cent of them do so by car, which "leaves 18 million people fighting with the daily frustration of congestion on the road network". Does it? Really?

Just because there are 18 million people driving to work and back home doesn't mean they're all "frustrated" or "fighting" against "congested" roads as the RACF says they are. True, some employees who commute in and out of some large towns and cities such as London during the morning and evening rush hours have difficulties. But only a comparatively tiny proportion of the British public commute to and from the capital on a daily basis.

For most of us (me included), driving to or home from our workplaces is effective rather than frustrating, a doddle rather than a fight, and most of the roads are busy rather than congested. Besides, during the course of a year, the average commuter makes only 161 commuting trips and travels a mere 8.6 miles a day, says the RACF. So that's 4.3 miles to work and 4.3 back home. Don't know about you, but where I live in the heavily populated south, even during rush hours I can usually drive 4.3 miles in 10-15 minutes.

Are the RAC and RACF simply scaremongering in an effort to drum up some publicity? Or is there something much more sinister going on behind these statements and headlines? I can understand slippery, car-hating politicians making negative and misleading comments about the way drivers conduct their lives. But the RAC is a company that got wealthy at the expense of motorists, and is therefore indebted to us. And the RACF is supposed to have drivers' best interests at heart. But its recent PR-hungry tactics, combined with support for the Government's road pricing plans, make me think it's losing touch with the people it's supposed to help. What will we see next? Politicians cutting taxes on cars? Comment here

Mike Rutherford writes for the Times, Daily Telegraph and Independent, presents ITV's Pulling Power and is founder member of the Motorists' Association

Link to this article:

• Email a Friend
• Print this

Company Website | Media Information | Contact Us | Privacy Notice | Subs Info | Voucher Codes | Sitemap
Our Other Websites: The Week | Custom PC | Evo | IT Pro | IT Pro India | MacUser | Men's Fitness | Micro Mart | PC Pro | bit-tech | Know Your Mobile | Octane | Expert Reviews | Channel Pro | Know Your Cell | Know Your Mobile India | iGizmo | Digital SLR Photography | Den of Geek | Computer Shopper | Dennis Communications | Magazines | Mobile Phone Deals | Competitions | Health & Fitness | CarBuyer | Cloud Pro | MagBooks | Mobile Test | LITS