Report on motoring 2004 - introduction

Foreword by Andrew Harrison, Chief Executive, RAC plc

On behalf of RAC plc, I am delighted to introduce the 2004 RAC Report on Motoring, the sixteenth of our annual series of reports into the condition of Britain's roads and the perceptions of those who use them.

This year, we investigate the costs of motoring and how various pricing elements may be used in future to help ease the increasing problems of congestion that we face every day on our roads.

The Report references the fact that transport on our small island is reaching something of a watershed. Car ownership has never been higher and people are increasingly choosing to make journeys by car rather than by public transport.

These factors are stretching our road systems to the limit, to the point where almost everyone has acknowledged the need to deal with congestion in a concerted way to deliver long-term improvements. Continued investment in the road network is important but it is not the only priority; we have to look at ways of maximising the road network that is already in place, developing the public transport system to provide viable alternatives to the car and at the same time discouraging people from using their cars for some non-essential journeys.

Conceiving schemes to tackle congestion can also provide a good opportunity to look at the some of the ways of redistributing the costs of motoring. There are more than one million untaxed, uninsured vehicles on our roads, which contribute to increasing costs for law-abiding drivers, particularly the price of insurance premiums and tax discs. Some of the various suggested policies for controlling escalating car use might have the added benefit of tackling the problem of the uninsured motorist through better enforcement methods.

The 2004 RAC Report on Motoring sets the costs of motoring into context and investigates the perceptions that car owners have towards of road usage and congestion. Interestingly, although owning and running a car represents one quarter of an average family weekly income, few drivers are even aware of the total amount of money that they spend on their cars. This Report lays bare those costs identifying in particular some major cost elements that are regularly ignored by drivers. We have focused attention on developing the shape of some possible solutions to the congestion problem so that policy makers can see how road users might respond to several different scenarios. Within the primary research we encouraged drivers to 'play Chancellor' by interrogating various taxation methods to see what they might be prepared to consider in the future, providing a context for future policy decisions. We also tackle perceptions about road user charging via satellite tracking, something that the Commission for Integrated Transport has indicated will be a reality for British motorists within the next 10 to 15 years.

The intention of this year's Report is to involve regular drivers in discussions about future roads policy so that they can understand how and why future decisions are made and to help inform the debate involving transport policy makers. My hope is that this Report will contribute to future thinking around this complex and contentious topic, which of course affects us all every day.

Andrew Harrison, Chief Executive, RAC plc