Future of Cars - Nowhere To Park
Car ownership in the UK is on the up and has been for the past ten years or so. The problem is that car registration is now rising dramatically quickly from year to year. In fact the number of cars on the UK roads has now broken 30 million for the first time.
Cars are increasingly becoming a necessity in today's world and new figures suggest that the amount of two car households now out numbers the amount of no car households. The problem is that with all these new cars on the UK's roads we are running out of places to park our cars.
We have all been in the situation where we have got to our destination and seem to spend a lifetime trying to find somewhere to park. The fact is that a lot of our congestion problems around towns and cities can be directly related to the limited amount of parking available. Some figures suggest that as much as 80% of city congestion can be related to the limited amount of parking spaces available in built up areas. This is a massive figure and if correct then surely the government should be looking to remedy the situation by finding locations and building new parking facilities?
The problem is that the government feels the best way to reduce congestion is to reduce the amount of cars on the road. By not improving the parking situation they believe people will be less enthusiastic about using their cars, unfortunately this doesn't seem to be the trend. During the past two terms in government Labour wanted to reduce the public's private car dependence by increasing the efficiency and standard of public transport. However since labour came into power cars on the UK's roads have increased by 4.3 million and although public transport has come on leaps and bounds the trend still seems to be to use your own car to get from A to B.
With the problem getting more out of hand some parts of the government have suggested that by hitting the motorist at home they can achieve a reduction in cars on the roads. It has been suggested only supplying a maximum of 1.5 parking spaces for all new houses built in the UK will deter house buyers from having more than one car due to the inconvenience of parking at home. With over 20% of people surveyed in the UK already telling us that they can't find parking outside their homes these controversial plans have been met with outrage.
The fact is that motoring costs have shot up in past years with increased road tax and car insurance premiums. However the majority of the public are still choosing a private car as their number one mode of transport. Surely the government should be creating new urban parking spaces instead of hoping the problem will just go away. Opposition to the plans has suggested that the way forward would be to put in underground parking in residential areas and set a minimum of 1.5 parking spaces for all new houses.
The problem is that increased costs of running a car such as car insurance, petrol costs and road tax aren't deterring the motoring community from getting in the car. The fact is it probably never will until the public transport in this country improves dramatically. So in the meantime with the high costs of Road tax shouldn't we expect the government to use this money to improve our deteriorating road systems and address the parking situation? In my eyes we should.
