Have we reached the peak of car ownership in the UK yet?

[Carl_Spackler]

I passed my test 16 years ago, at the time we were constantly bombarded with figures of how many car were going to be on the road in “x" years time, and the congestion that this number of cars will create.

16 years down the line and I have noticed a marked increase on the number of cars on the road in my local area, friends who never thought they would need to drive are now driving, and the older generation (pensioners) are now all car owners as opposed to my grandparents, 16 years ago, only one owned a car the remainder were happy to travel by public transport (now all passed way). The neighbour’s teenage kids now all have cars, but I was very unusual to have my own car a 17, etc etc.



So enough of the ramblings, is this it, are we at the peak of car ownership in the uk and therefore number of cars on the road, or are there more cars to come and therefore, most importantly congestion on "my" roads?

Edited by Carl_Spackler on Tuesday 10th August 11:55

[cmackay81]

not yet, i think it will stabalise for a few years, then when really good mpg cars start to become available through whichever technology, car ownership will start to rise again. there are still alot of families out there relying on 1 car, if they could afford to run 2 i'm sure they would.

[EdJ]

I've lived on the same street in SW London for 15 years and judging by how much more difficult it is to find a parking place nowadays, the number of cars per household has increased significantly. Not sure about it having peaked though.

[reggie82]

The UK population is growing, so I expect car ownership will continue growing.

[Rawwr]

One thing I was pondering the other day was how there are now so many cars parked in the street. I remember playing in the street as a child and there were no cars ever parked in the street and now it's basically a huge car park.