Lazy motorists won't walk 1000m

07 September 2007

What Car? green survey findings
Seven million motorists won't walk 1000 metres
Facts back up Department of Transport's findings

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Seven million lazy motorists would rather use their cars than take a 12-minute walk.

That's one of the findings of an exclusive whatcar.com survey into green issues, which discovered almost a quarter (23%) of Britain's 28 million motorists would rather get in their car and drive, rather than walk just 1000 metres.

With the average person walking at 3.6mph, a 1000-metre walk would take just 12 minutes.

Estimates suggest that driving the same distance can take between two and 12 minutes, depending on traffic conditions - so many of those who drive in built-up areas don't save any time.

The walk would also have health benefits, burning an estimated 76 calories, which is the equivalent of eating 1lb of watermelon.

Medical research also suggests that three half-hour walks a week can double an average person's fitness level, improve their health and prolong their life.

The findings tie-in with the Department for Transport's National Travel Survey, which discovered that in 2006 people used their private cars to drive further and more often and that walking and bus use had dropped.

Other facts highlighted by the whatcar.com survey include:

• 30.2% of motorists rate the environment as very important to them. 4.5% say it is not at all important.

• 14.6% say their car's environmental impact is very important to them. 7.3% say it isn't at all important.

• Motorists rated reliability and price as most important when choosing a car. Of the six options, how green a car is was least important.

• 29.9% of respondents said they wouldn't pay more for a greener car, with the majority of them saying they would need a £500 tax incentive to buy green.

• Motorists rated safety features and ride and handling as the things they would least want to give up to drive a greener car. Power and space were the items motorists would least object to giving up - although more than 60% still said they wouldn't want to give up either.

• Although 71.2% of motorists know their car's carbon dioxide rating, just 36.3% said it affected their car choice.

• 65.8% of motorists support the introduction of an additional VED band to tax cars that emit more than 275g/km of carbon dioxide, with 49.8% saying drivers of such vehicles should be paying more than £800 a year in road tax.

• 36.9% were in favour of banning higher-emitting cars from town centres altogether, but only 12.8% felt diesels should be treated the same way.

• 42.7% supported a ban on all private transport in town centres if public transport is improved sufficiently.

• 29.9% said that the congestion charge would have to top £20 a day to stop them driving into towns and cities. A further 28.8% said they would stop if the charge topped £5. 42.7% said they never used public transport.

• 46.2% thought hydrogen fuel cell technology represented the future of motoring. Just 9.3% said diesel and 2.0% petrol. Stop-start technology was only rated by 11.5%.