Traffic

The British love their cars: 45 per cent of families own one car and 25 per cent have two or more cars. Statistics show that people are using their cars much more, especially to go to work. It is estimated that traffic on all roads will double during the next 30 years. About 10 per cent of people walk to work; not many cycle, because it seems too dangerous. For many commuters public transport seems expensive and not very convenient.

It is not surprising that travel by car is so popular. If you want to travel from London to Oxford by train, a return ticket for one person costs four times as much as the petrol for a car which can take you and three friends.

Michael Vaughan-Rees, Geraldine Sweeney, Picot Cassidy: In Britain. 21st Century Edition, Cornelsen Verlag, 2000, page 68