We need to see fewer motorists... full stop

IN response to P Collins’ letter. The climate and ecological crisis means we desperately need to see a massive reduction in private motor transport use. Transport is the largest emitting greenhouse gas and air polluting sector. Privately owned cars are the largest contributors to that sector in Devon, the South West and nationally.

Without swift and radical change to the way we transport ourselves around, we’ll leave our children a hellish planet on which to live. The increase in volume of traffic on our roads far outweighs the reduction in emissions from new, less dirty engines. The filth they chug out contributes to 40,000 deaths a year. My family tastes the air pollution every morning when we walk the school run, knowing that this is affecting our child’s lungs development.

Traffic has already returned to pre-pandemic levels, whilst more people are working at home fewer are using public transport. Cycling is one of many methods of reducing people’s reliance on cars. Roads with good quality cycling infrastructure are seven times as efficient as roads without, the average occupancy rate for each vehicle is similar, with cars being just over one.

The bottom line is that we don’t need to extract more from motorists, we need to see fewer motorists full stop. Unfortunately, the embedded carbon in manufacturing electric vehicles means they, too, are part of the problem when it comes to decarbonising the privately owned car market. We can’t afford the carbon bomb of 32 million privately owned cars, which cost 12t of carbon each to create, speeding (86% of drivers speed in 20mph zones) around our roads, if we are to respond to the climate and ecological emergency as the crisis it really is.

Caspar Hughes via email