Date published: 2006/03/22
The BBC says:
You need a thick skin to drive a 4x4 these days, with environmentalists, safety campaigners and even Tory MPs on your case. But are they as bad as their critics claim?
Off-roaders, 4x4s, SUVs, Chelsea Tractors - call them what you will, these broad, bulky and towering vehicles are more popular than ever.
Last year, some 187,000 were sold - compared to 80,000 a decade before - accounting for almost 8%, or one in 15 of all cars sold.
...
Off-roaders used to be reserved for the countryside, but it's the growth in urban 4x4s that has irked many people. Britain's cities are crowded and traffic-clogged enough without these "urban tanks", the argument goes."When you see someone trying to manoeuvre it round the school gates you have to think, you are a complete idiot," says London mayor Ken Livingstone. Even arch petrol head Jeremy Clarkson has voiced his concern for the sanity of anyone who drives a 4x4 in a city.
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All car makers must, by law, state carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions for each model sold in the UK, based on grams emitted per kilometre and this determines the amount of road tax paid annually. Greenpeace points the finger at "gas guzzlers" rather than 4x4s per se, making the point that there are plenty of high-polluting cars that are not four-wheel drive.
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The environmental pressure group wants a new, £1,800 punitive tax band, to be paid annually, for all cars which exceed 250g/Km - "roughly 25mpg," says Greenpeace's Mark Strutt.Britain's efforts to cut back on CO2 emissions have faltered of late, particularly in transport, and this, in part, is because of the trend for 4x4s, says Mr Strutt.
Supporters of 4x4s say they already pay more tax, because they use more fuel. And they note that diesels - which rate notably better on C02 emissions than petrol - outsell petrol models by about 2:1. But diesel engines tend to be bigger than their petrol counterparts, says Mr Strutt, and besides, they emit more polluting particulates and hydrocarbons. Particulate traps help, but "ultra-fine particles still slip through", says Mr Strutt.
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The safety argument against 4x4s has long hinged on divers' "I'm alright Jack" attitude. In other words, while those inside are safer than ever, anyone else is likely to come off much worse in a collision.According to the safety standards judged by Euro NCAP - a respected independent body that crash tests cars on sale in Europe - that's still true, but getting less so as car makers up their game.
"The law of physics says that when a heavy car, be it a 4x4 or anything else, hits a lighter one the big car will come off better," says Chris Patience, head of technical policy at the AA.
Well this article is not that balanced but it is more balanced than the usual fare you get from the BBC on transport. They do fail to point out that how much you pay in road fund tax has nothing (yes, nothing) to do in any way with how much petrol your car consumes. You pay the same whether you drive your car for 100 or for 100000 miles per year. The tax is now being used as just one of those typically vindictive taxes for politically incorrect forms of consumption (politically incorrect to the dreadful middle class non-workers that run Britain). There is of course a tax which does relate to how much petrol your car consumes, and that is called the petrol tax. The BBC at least managed to grudgingly point that out in the article. Indeed, because of the petrol tax, car drivers are the only people in Britain who pay a sufficient carbon tax. Nobody else does. In particular, train commuters do not. But of course the usual middle class so-called environmentalists never call for train commuters to pay a proper carbon tax. Somehow it is ok to take a train from Bristol to London and back each day and expect the rest of the country to subsidise your journey (not only operationally but environmentally). The BBC snidely refers to the alleged "I'm alright Jack" attitude of owners of 4x4s. But the real "I'm alright Jack" attitude is displayed loud and clear again and again by the so-called environmentalists. They hate cars so they endlessly promote the idea that car drivers should be persecuted.
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