To think car ownership is out of control in the UK

Men refusing to reverse (which I agree a minority of them can be arseholes about) and women not wanting to isn’t the same. I agree with OP that a lot more women panic about things like that, most of my female friends can’t parallel park and I’ve been sat in a car with them panicking as they have to reverse. I’ve had to swap seats with one friend a couple of times as she couldn’t do it and even had to park her car.

Personally, I think the bigger problems is works vans. So many self employed tradesmen who have transit or long wheel based vans or small pick up trucks PLUS a car for the wife AND a car for them when they're not working. So at least 3 vehicles. Then often a car or two for their adult children still living at home. In the streets I know with severe parking problems, it's tradesmen vans that cause the most trouble, as they are longer and wider than normal cars, and are the ones partly blocking pavements, parking between drives taking up all the available space where 2 "normal" cars could have parked, etc.

If anything, I think vans, pick up trucks, camper vans, etc should be the vehicles who need permits for parking in residential areas. Cars aren't really the problem.

EVs tend to be heavier but not bigger (larger dimensions) than ICEs.

Within 10 years or so the mass will probably reduce due to solid state batteries as well.

As the OP isn't answering questions, may I suggest she writes a thesis on this passionate subject of hers. Surely that would be way more fruitful than telling other people how many cars and what type they 'should be allowed' to own. This is all very controlling.

20 years ago i remember visiting my friend who lived on a victorian terrace street and having to drive my peugeot 106 down between 2 rows of parked cars, and having whoever was coming the other way often not wanting to reverse.

20 years ago my neighbour used to park his work van in front of my house, and the people opposite had their work van and a caravan and reversing out of my drive was tricky but doable.

40 years ago it was pretty similar an my nan's - we always had to park quite a long way away at Christmas.

Driving down to my parents it's still the same - most houses have a drive, but there's cars on the road (half on the pavement) too - always have been, similar numbers.

I don't think it's changed that much TBH.. Perhaps more kids staying at home for longer so more adults in a house, but I think you're harking back to a golden age that didn't exist.

Actually, it is true that cars are wider now than ever. But given I always lived places where people had a family car and a work van, I guess I don't notice that as much, since big vehicles were always around

OP why are you not getting public transport to visit your friends? You’re contributing to the very problem you’re complaining about by taking your car.

very convenient that you haven’t answered this question.

I'm the same, living rurally. The roads are atrocious with their potholes. I will drive a big fuck off car if it stops me getting forced into a hedge, hard gravel etc by bigger vehicles.

It’s a vicious circle. When the time comes to change my saloon car, it will probably be replaced by a big wheeled 4x4 because of the terrible state of the roads in my locality. Bad enough to break a wheel on my car, not just a tyre.

not just over 3 miles?

surely a 15-20 minute journey by car would be 7 miles or more - as speed limits are 20/30mph in most areas of suburbs

Why do we allow this??

..because life in almost all of the UK without a car is miserable, employment, shopping, leisure... all pretty much impossible without a car.

Buses take forever, as they have to make many stops and how would most people do the shopping carrying all those bags around.... trains far too expensive and who wants to pay the taxes to give European levels of fares...

People seem to hate anyone who cycles on the road, so we have ruled out that option all by ourselves......

Now there is an argument on controlling the size of cars but we have decided to go down the EV route and they, due to their batteries/range tend to be bigger & heavier, smaller EVs have a poor range.

Then there is migration, those 1m people per year, now 500k, who have been coming here to work study, bringing in dependents too, also need to get around... but we voted for this....

We have 3 between 2 and the reason we have 3 between 2 is that the computer on our nice newish (we never buy brand new) eco friendly car failed and it's now an expensive heap of metal that we're still paying for.
Its replacement is an old diesel that has no computer stuff to fail.

Surely it depends on the journey. As I said upthread my journey to work was 15-20 minutes by car, over an hour by public transport. There were two ways I could have walked or cycled it, one was along an unlit towpath and one on an unlit winding road with no paths. Walking or cycling either route would have taken much longer than driving and didn't feel safe so why would I? (This journey was slightly longer than 3 miles but the principle is the same)

I find public transport more stressful. I can't bear being crammed in anywhere and get panicky with crowds of people. I would never, ever work anywhere that involved using the tube as I find that worst of all.

why does it have to be all or nothing? Why can't it be that trips under 3 miles are done by other means - which would take 50% of traffic of the road - as 50% of trips completed are under 3 miles

but keep a car for longer journeys

Public transport in my area makes having a car a necessity for me. I start work at 7am and the first bus I could catch (about 10 minutes walk from my house) is at 6.37 and takes 58 minutes to get to the town i work in, plus another 10 minutes on top of that to walk from the bus station to work! There are no trains, and a taxi would be about £30 minimum. The journey by car at that time in the morning, on empty roads takes 20 minutes door to door and actually works out cheaper than the bus fare!

It's obvious why the potholes in our roads are so bad if everybody's basically driving lorries.... As well as those heavy electric cars we are being "nudged" into using.

I will not buy the anti-car arguments until politicians give up their cars, and until public transport becomes much cheaper and more convenient. If I have to travel somewhere, often the decision is along the lines of: train £60 and takes longer, car less than £25. Tough decision, innit?

I would, however, support car-sharing being made more convenient. Such schemes exist in large cities, but not in small towns. I live in a small town just outside a large city, and this makes public transport much more expensive and inconvenient. If I moved to just inside the city, I would be paying about ten times as much for where I live. Once you have bought a car, and paid the many costs such as insurance, tax and repairs, public transport can then feel like an expensive (and slow) luxury. So the anti-car voices need to sort this out, instead of trying to price motorists off the road.

The consultant for my disability is based at a hospital 32 miles away from my house.

I don't drive, due to my disability. Sure, it takes 2 hrs each way on public transport. I manage though. I manage to travel around for work on public transport. For most journeys it's possible.

The only time I've ever needed a car was taking my kids home from hospital after they were born, and I got a taxi for that.

It's not your argument I was addressing, sorry!

It's the people that NEED cars, and have so many arguments for why they need them. The same people that say disabled people should just be more resilient and try harder.

I think a one car per household rule is a pretty good idea tbh. It would solve a lot of problems. More space on the roads, encouraging public transport use and car sharing. Less pollution. More exercise from walking short journeys. Lots of other good outcomes I'm sure.

Did you answer my question on those who drive large vehicles under the mobility scheme?

Sorry, meant motorbility.

I think there should be increases in car tax the more cars you have registered to a single address, to discourage multi-car households.

I was sitting in the inevitable traffic queue at Stonehenge the other day, next to a massive SUV which was almost the same size and height as the minibus in front of it. I was actually quite shocked. It's obvious why the potholes in our roads are so bad if everybody's basically driving lorries....

I’ll just get on the invisible bus shall I?

People don’t use it because it isn’t frequent enough so they can’t get where they need to be.
The network also isn’t extensive enough.

I don’t want to have to get to an appointment 1 hour 45 before I need to, which is what I would have had to do the other day (small town near three major towns).