Leasedrive Velo Blog

Roddy Graham, Commercial Director

Hot on the news that a high occupancy lane has been opened up north, comes news that such a proposed scheme for down south, between junctions seven and 10 of the M1, has been abandoned as being unrealistic.

Six days ago, transport minister Ruth Kelly officially opened a 1.7-mile stretch of hard shoulder between the southbound M606 and the eastbound M62 toward Leeds for use by cars and taxis carrying two or more people. This followed the construction of new lay-bys for broken down vehicles, with the new high occupancy lane estimated to save up to seven minutes on journey times.

Unfortunately, the Department for Transport has determined that such a scheme is not viable for the M1 as it will not allow for vehicles leaving and entering the motorway between St. Albans and Luton. Switching a high occupancy vehicle lane to the outside lane would prove too dangerous and difficult to police as there would be no emergency lay-bys for broken down vehicles and camera technology to check occupancy does not yet exist.

Talking of camera technology, the speed cameras covering the variable speed limit stretches of the M25 are going digital, which will mean greater enforcement and a massive increase in fines as the cameras will not run out of film. Apparently, the latter were set rather conservatively for catching 90mph+ speedsters when the 70mph limit was in force but the digital ones will catch you at 10% plus 2mph over whatever speed limit is applied.

If you think that’s tough, just think about the poor citizens of Portsmouth who will soon have to limit their speed in residential areas to just 20mph. The council has only one final section to complete before there is a blanket 20mph speed restriction. Norwich council is considering following suit.

Times are definitely a changing. With more cycle lanes planned in major towns and cities, it will not be long before using a bike will be an attractive proposition. Maintaining a steady 20mph on the flat is quite a realistic proposition for a cyclist, added to which two-wheel self-propelled mobility keeps you fit. All we need to do is sort out the weather!

Seriously though, it is inevitable that our habits will change. In the future, with the imposition of lower speed limits, we will think twice about using cars for short journeys. In many ways this can be no bad thing, making our neighbourhoods cleaner, safer and quieter.

I am just dreading the day when central Government decides to impose a blanket 50mph national speed limit so that we all save on fuel.

Roddy Graham, Commercial Director

Having recently chaired the 15th Annual Members’ Conference of the Institute of Car Fleet Management (ICFM), held at The Honda Institute in Colnbrook, I am struck by how much people know about what’s going on with our environment but how little is actually being done to combat climate change.

As environmental transport advisor, Don Potts declared, “it’s not too late for the world to change but time is running out!”

The conference theme was ‘Drive Less – Achieve More’ and last-minute keynote speaker, Colin Challen, Labour MP and chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Climate Change Group, certainly rose to his topic of ‘Climate Change – The Challenge.’

We may be the only country in the world to have a Climate Change Bill but the government target of reducing CO2 emissions by 60% by 2050 is way too low – it needs to be 80% or higher. Indeed, Alistair Darling has just announced in his budget that Government is to seek advice as to whether it can be raised to 80%!

Colin really caught the mood by highlighting President Roosevelt’s declaration of 6 January 1942, “Let no man say it cannot be done!” Roosevelt didn’t ask the US motor manufacturers to help produce the mass weapons of war – tanks, planes, etc, he told them! They didn’t produce another car for civilian use for another three and a half years.

Closer to home, we built 6000 miles of railway in just seven years in the mid-19th century. We can achieve great things if we set our mind to it, and have the incentive (to win a war) or the ambition (create a rail network).

Tim Anderson, fleet advice manager at The Energy Saving Trust, pointed out that advice and information plays just as important a role as new technology and market incentives in reducing a company’s carbon footprint while Mark Cowling, business development director of CAP, advised fleet operators not to be afraid of adding hybrid vehicles to their fleets. CAP forecasts the trend for residual values to rise to continue, with hybrid vehicles doing just as well as petrol and diesel equivalents.

Don Potts closed the conference by putting matters into perspective. It was not by accident that Greenland was named just that by the Vikings. They grew wheat on the land, with not an acre of ice in sight! Indeed, the Chinese sailed around the Arctic Circle in the 12th century. So there have been rises and falls in global temperatures since the Earth was created as evidenced by deep bore ice analysis.

Nor is everything concerned with CO2. Just as important is air quality, with 20,000 respiratory deaths per year recorded in the UK alone. It’s no accident that you don’t find diesels in the USA or Japan. They know what pollutants are emitted. According to Potts, 130 UK cities are adopting an air quality strategy and we may eventually see ‘no go’ areas in town and city centres. They already have them in Sweden, with only hybrids and biofuel vehicles allowed in.

As I’ve highlighted in my column several times before, there are concerns over the ascendency of biofuels and Potts shares those reservations. If the world’s forests are responsible for absorbing 85% of CO2, the last thing we want is to cut them down to grow crops for biofuel production!

All manner of EU, Government and local authority actions are in place or planned to combat climate change but in the greater scheme of things they are a mere drop in water.

What we need is a new FDR to rise up and declare what everyone knows needs to be done and grab the whole problem by the scruff of the neck. Who better placed than Ban Ki-Moon, UN Secretary General. It’s about time the United Nations came to the fore. However, judging by its ineffective role in Darfur, don’t hold your breath.

Remember those words, “Let no man say it cannot be done!”

Roddy Graham, Commercial Director

Last week I referred to the fact that a recent survey suggested that companies were paying mere lip service to green issues. The study indicated most green fleet policies were aimed at improving corporate image rather than actually reducing the all-important carbon footprint. Now it would seem Government is getting in on the act.

At a time when it is becoming increasingly critical for concerted action on climate change, our country’s green policies are going backwards. Transport secretary, Ruth Kelly has ruled out, for the foreseeable future, national road pricing as a way of cutting traffic volumes and emissions. Okay, I agree with that one. I have argued from the word go that was a non-starter. However, no alternative has been put on the table.

Clearly, Government is afraid to attack at the source, namely the fuel pumps, but that patently is the road to go down to make people think twice about whether their car journeys are necessary. So how does Government propose to reduce emissions? We wait with baited breath while the planet gets hotter, and our climate with it. The only sound declaration is a widening of motorways, by greater use of the hard shoulder at peak times, following a successful pilot in the Midlands.

Meanwhile, ‘open skies’ at the end of the month will see a 25% increase in transatlantic flights to and from Heathrow, adding up to 524 extra flight per month. At the same time, a record number of new air links will open from the UK to Europe this summer with 100 short-haul routes to be launched to the Continent. Apparently, we cannot get enough of our plane journeys, as well as our car journeys.

Again, Ruth Kelly has advised that the Government does not intend doing anything about this unprecedented growth. There will be no action to curb flights for fear of other airlines stepping into the breach. An increase in aviation duty should be the bare minimum. The opportunities to fly for a short-breaks to city venues for stag and hen parties is spiralling out of control, as are those embarking on such trips, who end up contacting the British Embassy over their personal disasters while at the same time giving our nation a terrible reputation abroad.

Worst of all, the Commons Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) has attacked the Government over its failure to meet the challenges of climate change. The EAC has revealed that green taxes have fallen from 9.7% in 1999 to 7.3% last year. By comparison, carbon emissions from road transport between 1997 and 2006 rose by 12%. Its chairman, Tim Yeo has called for significant increases in rates of taxation on flights and planned increases in fuel duty. He stated that Government lacked ambition and imagination on green taxation while also criticising the Government for failing to produce a joined-up transport policy. How many times have we heard that one?

The window of opportunity to do something about climate change will not be open for long according to a declaration this week from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. What we need is a builder who understands what sustainable materials to use and a framework, which joins everything up into a green whole.

Whatever your political persuasion, the colour should be green.