18th January 2005

Greens give school reports to parents driving 4x4s

Download the report card:  4x4 School Report (500 KB)

 
Gloucestershire Green Party members were outside a school in Cheltenham town centre today 18th January 2005. They were issuing school reports to parents who were driving 4x4s.

Keith Bessant, the Green Party Parliamentary candidate for Cheltenham explained: "We want to see action by the government as the increase in sales of these 4 by 4 monsters is a disaster for the environment and our health. We are targeting the school-run parents as they epitomise a lot of the problems 4x4s cause."

Climate change

Keith Bessant said: "The big 4x4s officially do about 12 miles to the gallon in urban areas - although unofficially, US journalists found that the Ford Excursion was doing 3.7 (i). By driving our kids in less efficient cars we are condemning them to deal with the effects of climate change as they grow up (ii)."


Health and Safety

Keith Bessant said: "The big 4x4s are higher and heavier and research in the US shows the occupants of a vehicle hit by one are 27 times times more likely to be killed than the occupants of a vehicle hit by a normal car. For the same reasons, they kill between two and three times as many of the pedestrians and cyclists they hit as smaller cars do. These monsters also have blind spots; once a week in the US, a parent backs over their child in their urban 4x4 and kills them(iii)."

Keith Bessant added: "These 4x4s also burn twice as much fuel so contribute greater amounts of pollution. The government estimates some 24,000 people die each year from poor air quality. Plus they cost twice as much in petrol to run."


4x4 owners in denial

Keith Bessant said: "We have both a global climate crisis and an impending global oil crisis yet these 4x4 owners seem to be in some sort of denial. It is almost as if by consuming vast quantities of petrol without an obvious effect, these drivers somehow prove to themselves that there cannot be a problem."


Call for action

Keith Bessant said: "Tony Blair says climate change is 'the single most important issue we face as a global community'. Yet this large growing cause of climate change remains unchecked by our government who say they don't want to interfere with 'freedom of choice' (iv)."

Keith Bessant concluded: "But this is just freedom to destroy the planet. We must take action. France is planing to heavily tax new 4x4s (v). Britain should go further and start by banning all new cars that do less than 30 mpg with exemptions for farmers. We need to tackle climate change now."


Notes:

(i) The Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA) of the UK Government has a searchable database of fuel economy and emissions information on almost every car available in the UK. www.vcacarfueldata.org.uk

(ii) The main and fastest-growing cause of climate change is transport. Flying is the chief culprit but in the last ten years the market for large 4x4s has more than doubled. Every year, 150,000 British people now buy one of these monsters, mostly to drive around our towns and cities. To find out more about the effects of climate change, visit the websites below.
New Scientist www.newscientist.com/hottopics/climate/
United National Environment Programme www.unep.org/themes/climatechange/
The data on carbon dioxide emissions and transport is given by the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs in the environmental protection section of their website.
www.defra.gov.uk/environment/statistics/
globatmos/kf/gakf07.htm
The number of 4x4s on the street is difficult to pin down as the manufacturers insist they make up just 6% of new car sales (www.smmt.co.uk), while the Evening Standard reports that one in seven London cars is a 4x4 ("Call for tax on off-roaders" 2nd September 2004). Surveys conducted by Wastemonsters while waiting for buses in central London suggest that more than 10% of cars going past (excluding vans, taxis buses etc) are urban 4x4s.

(iii) The safety information included is from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in the USA, who have to look at what accidents actually happen rather than the results of crash tests, which the manufacturers associations rightly say these vehicles all pass. The institute is so concerned about SUV safety they produce regular reports on the subject.
www.iihs.org
There's other good safety information, including frightening stuff on blind spots at www.kidsandcars.org

(iv) The Transport Department's press office says "It is up to people to drive whatever car they choose." Taxing or banning 4x4s would restrict people's "freedom of choice". See www.monbiot.com

(v) Financial Times, 3/07/04

Further information, interviews:

Philip Booth, Press Officer Gloucestershire Green Party 01453 755451
Keith Bessant 0845 3454399
Martin Whiteside: 01453 757874
Green Party national press office 020 7561 0282
www.stopurban4x4s.org.uk