In the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Bloc, car ownership quickly became the number one measure of freedom to which people throwing off authoritarian government aspired. It was no surprise that the rise in car ownership became unstoppable in Eastern Europe; where it had previously been strictly the preserve of an unelected political elite [1]
Here in Great Britain, some thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a British government, acting like the old soviet elite, are undemocratically removing the number one choice of transport from Britain’s 37 million drivers.
The same government has never asked electoral approval for policies that are specifically designed to prevent car ownership [2].
Only the super-rich will be able to afford prohibitively-expensive electric vehicles and associated recharging facilities, when the government’s ban on the sale of petrol, diesel and hybrid vehicles comes into force.
Last year’s Department of Transport policy document Decarbonising Transport [3] is quite clear that it is government’s intention that owning your own car will have to be beyond the reach of the majority of families – to meet decarbonisation targets [4,5,6].
Hardly a day goes by without further measures to make travel by car ever more difficult: be it local Councils creating road closures or motorway speed restrictions; all under the false flags of ‘safety’ or environmental scare stories [7].
The Alliance of British Drivers has always promoted free choice, and supported innovative car manufacturers’ efforts to meet market demands for improved products.
We simply cannot – and will not – support governmental coercion-by-stealth, that will deprive families of the freedom to travel, meet friends and live life to the full, because of ill-conceived and unscientific policies concerning decarbonisation.
References:
1 https://cei.org/studies/engines-of-liberty-cars-and-the-collapse-of-communism-in-eastern-europe/
2 https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/car-news/consumer-news/107701/end-personal-car-ownership-mps-say
3 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/transport-decarbonisation-plan
4 https://tottnews.com/2020/01/19/the-end-of-private-vehicle-ownership/
5 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46794948
6 https://www.thetimes.co.uk/static/seeing-end-car-ownership/
7 https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industry-news-environment/motorway-sections-given-60mph-limit-effort-reduce-nox-levels
