Audience Shot #18: Getting Britain back in the driver’s seat.
The rise of driving and car ownership, as public transport remains off limits.
There’s been a lot of talk about the rise of cycling during the UK’s lockdown, with bicycle sales up 63% year on year — but since restrictions have been eased, people are stepping up to four wheels, with news just out that new car registrations were up 11.3% in July.
As a result, there’s been an awful lot of chatter on social lately with excited drivers showing off their shiny new cars.
Used car sales went up 13.3% year-on-year in June, and there’s hope that pollution levels won’t rise to pre-lockdown levels, with hybrid sales up 22% year-on-year and electric car sales have almost tripled so far in 2020 compared to 2019, as carmakers rush to reduce their emissions to avoid steep fines. Meanwhile, sales of plug-in hybrids quadrupled in July compared with 2019 and the sale of mild hybrids tripled year-on-year in July.
And for some, the urge to buy a car in the midst of the pandemic has meant we’ve become first time car owners.
Search for ‘driving lessons’ showed a massive spike in the UK between 21–27 June according to Google Trends, with search still well above average now.
Driving lessons resumed on 4 July, but tests are being prioritised for key workers who’d had them cancelled during the coronavirus lockdown, with exams due to restart this month.
Car dealerships in London in particular are reporting that increasingly 30 or 40 somethings are buying cars for the first time because they no longer want to use public transport because of fears of contracting Covid-19 — Tube journeys are still down by 75%, despite Boris Johnson urging everyone to go back to their workplaces and ending the work from home guidance.
With coronavirus cases rising in many parts of the UK again, it’s no surprise we’re shunning public transport and investing in our own four wheels instead, particularly with many of us planning on summer staycations, and city dwellers keen to leave their urban confines on day trips to the coast or countryside.
After all, travelling on two wheels becomes less attractive come winter, and staycationing by bicycle even in summer is strictly for the lycra-clad enthusiast.
The government has been encouraging us to get out and about again with their Enjoy Summer Safely campaign, and even the AA is urging us to get back out on the open road again with their Love That Feeling ad featuring the rather cute Tukker the dog.
In addition, 4.1million of us are planning on driving to continental Europe this summer to avoid flying, with Go Compare urging car owners to check whether their insurance covers them fully when they cross the Channel.
More of us are also planning to use our cars to commute when we do finally stop working from home. A third of Britons said they commuted by car before the Covid-19 pandemic, but that figure is set to rise to 61% as motorists attempt to avoid public transport.
However, new motoring commuters are being warned they’ll need to notify insurers if they’re using their cars to get to and from work, which could result in their premiums rising. But it’s a small price to pay for the freedom of avoiding a crowded Tube twice a day.
Hopefully, the majority of these drivers hitting the road will stick to the Highway Code — unlike the few in early lockdown who ignored pleas to stay at home to save lives and protect the NHS, and instead, took advantage of the lack of traffic and decided to channel their inner Lewis Hamiltons, turning streets into Silverstone racetrack. Injuries to cyclists, pedestrians and motorcyclists doubled during lockdown according to car insurers More Than.
And while motoring can sometimes be more associated with road rage than relaxation, scientists have found that driving has a host of psychological benefits.
As well as the feeling of freedom, exhilaration and escape, driving gives us some precious ‘me time’ and can be almost meditative, which allows us the mental space for problem-solving, calms anxiety and can be therapeutic to the extent that it can be a good alternative to cognitive behavioural therapy.
Professor Lynne Pearce from the University of Lancaster says: “The way in which the mind travels through time and space on its everyday cognitive journeys — encountering a novelty here, a memory or an obstacle there — is figuratively similar to the way in which cars and their drivers engage with the temporal and spatial environments through which they pass.”
Eric Klinenberg, a professor of sociology at New York University, agrees and says: “There’s something about being in the driver’s seat — with the sense of control it affords — that lets you think productively and solve problems. People long for productive solitude, time to be alone in their heads to work through problems without the distraction of social media and email.”
So whether you’re a seasoned driver or a first time owner of a set of wheels, here’s to more motoring adventures as the UK continues on the road to recovery from coronavirus. Beep beep!
