Frequent drivers: who is driving down London’s streets?
It’s no secret that London has a car problem.* But research shows that most Londoners make most, if not all, their trips in the city without a car.** So who’s driving the cars that clog up the city’s streets?
(alt-text: data visualisation showing two stats. That ten per cent of people take half of all car trips in London.)
According to a recent survey, conducted by YouGov and released under an FOI request, in the last year, half of the adults in London haven’t driven at all, and of the half that have gotten behind the wheel of a car, it’s not a frequent occurrence. In fact, it’s just 13% of adults in London drive five or more days a week. This suggests that a relatively small proportion of Londoners are responsible for most of the car trips.
By adding together all the days Londoners said they either drove or cycled, it’s possible to then see how many of those days were attributable to the most frequent drivers - a relatively small proportion of Londoners, just over 10%, will be driving half of all the car trips.
Why should you care?
With London’s extensive low-priced public transport network, not to mention the fact that congestion means driving is often the slowest way to get around the city, it might not be surprising that so few of the city’s residents get around by car. Yet this research has important implications for efforts to reduce carbon emissions in the city.
London’s streets are increasingly being framed as a contested space between drivers and cyclists. Cyclists are portrayed as a tiny minority as opposed to the “majority” of Londoners who drive. This misconception is often loudest in the vociferous campaigns by small groups in opposition to measures such as Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (where bollards or planters are positioned to prevent through-traffic accessing certain streets) and low-emissions zones (such as the ULEZ). What this research shows us, is that this simply isn’t the case. Instead the political and social struggle for our streets is between a large majority who seldom drive, if at all, and a small minority who drive very often.
As such, we can look more favourably on traffic reduction methods. The two thirds of Londoners who drive at most once a week will, most likely, have a limited appetite to oppose any restriction on driving.This is why opinion polls tend to show support for restrictions on driving on condition that delivers the promised benefits. There is already an imbalance between those experiencing the costs and benefits of driving (only a small minority contribute to most of the car trips but the negative effects of pollution and emissions are felt across London). Traffic reduction methods may inconvenience just that small minority, whilst bringing positive benefits (namely cleaner air and safer streets) to the people who live across the city.
(alt-text: a line graph. It shows that around four per cent of people take most of the cycling trips and 10 per cent of people take most of the driving trips.)
Three ways you can take action for cleaner safer streets
Go car-free yourself.
If every Londoner who drives their cars no more than once a week gave up driving entirely, this could free up half of the space currently occupied by Londoners’ parked cars for other more beneficial uses but it would only reduce Londoners’ car trips on our streets by 2%. We’ll be launching a car-free pledge this Summer so watch this space.
Explore parklets.
A parklet is an old parking space that has been transformed into something for people to enjoy, and a great way to get people thinking about how our cities could be if we reduced the number of cars on the streets. On the parklets page of our website, you can find a tool for designing your own parklet, an interactive map to choose an effective space to put it, and a click-to-email tool so that you can ask your local councillors to support parklets in your area.
Write to your local council about traffic filters
Not only are traffic filters an inexpensive and effective way that Councils can make streets cleaner and safer, but, as our research shows, they are overwhelmingly popular among those who are most affected by them. Will you use our easy tool to write to your councillors with the evidence to ask them to take action?
* London is congested with traffic, choked by fumes and is often dangerous for people who walk and cycle. This affects all Londoners, but older people, disabled people, children and communities where people of colour, and poor people live are hit the hardest. For statistics on the problems with cars in London, see pages 10-18 of the Car Free London intro pack.
**64% adult Londoners drove once a week at the most, if at all
If every Londoner who drives their cars no more than once a week gave up driving entirely, this could free up half of the space currently occupied by Londoners’ parked cars for other more beneficial uses but it would only reduce Londoners’ car trips on our streets by 2%. We’ll be launching a car-free pledge this Summer so watch this space.