Saturday August 19, 2006

Scotland motorists clock up 150m fewer miles in their cars

peakoil.com -> news.scotsman.com :

Scotland's love affair with the motor car is waning, with Scots increasingly leaving their vehicle in the garage and taking public transport or walking instead. The Scottish Executive's transport survey shows that Scots drove 150 million fewer miles on major roads last year than in 2004, down by 1% and only the second drop since the oil crisis of the 1970s. Rail and bus journeys were up and walking and cycling were more popular. Experts said huge rises in fuel costs, increasing congestion on the roads, coupled with increasing investment in public transport and growing awareness of the environment was behind the change.

But with car drivers still running more than 14 billion vehicle miles on A-roads and motorways last year, environmentalists warned that much still needed to be done. Congestion is still at record levels, with lorries, vans and other vehicles pushing the total to 27 billion vehicle miles. Mark Ballard, transport spokesman for the Scottish Green Party, said: "Flying, the most polluting form of travel, has increased by 93 per cent since 1995, again to the highest levels ever, blowing a massive hole in any plans for Scotland to reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions."

(2006-08-19 11:54:35 SGT) [Energy] Permalink

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