PUBLIC POLICY AND THE MOTOR-CAR

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32661, 17 July 1971, Page 10

PUBLIC POLICY AND THE MOTOR-CAR

lie Motor Car and Politics 1896-1970. By William Plowden. The Bodley Head. 469 pp. This impressive and lengthy study originated one morning on a London bus top when the author pondered upon why the users of private cars should dictate the pattern of traffic to every other road user. He used these thoughts as a starting point for an inquiry into the changing ways in which governments have reacted to the motor-car since it first ran on British roads in the mid 1890 s. He also considers how successive governments have dealt with the problems which the motor-car created. In the seventy odd years of motoring in Britain, both society and the rdle of the car have changed greatly. Mt Plowden examines the relationship between the changes and shows how the car has been treated. His book falls into two distinct parts—pre 1939 where access to official documents has been possible under the 30-year rule, and post 1939, where he has had to rely mainly on published material, fragments of diaries and personal interviews, etc. a

The author stresses that his work is not a study of the impact of the car on society, rather the reverse, for it is concerned with the way society has treated the car, public . policy towards the car. Reviewing the period from 1896 when the Locomotives on Highways Act in Britain made it possible to use motor-cars on public roads, Mr Plowden reflects that many of the arguments about the car remain unaltered. Discussions of speed limits, road accidents, the enforcement of penalties and the relationship of these to the behaviour of motorists, have always returned to the same dominant themes. Mr Plowden finds that the way in which policy towards the car has been made tells us something about the nature of British government in general. The car first came to the notice of Whitehall as a totally unfamiliar phenomenon and with no idea of what to expect of the car, civil servants and Ministers were content to rely on outside pressure as a spur to action and on outsiders for technical advice. For the first 45 years of the car in Brit jjTi, the government tried to inter-

; vene as little as possible in the affairs s of the makers and users of the car but in the 1950 s it became clear that it ' might not be possible to satisfy all the ’ demands on resources made by the car. Due to the structure of British govem- > ment, comprehensive planning was • impossible and any attempt to work s out a positive policy was attacked as being “against” the car. With-no action from the government ; there was no adequate challenge to the view that in normal economic times as * many cars should be provided for as the industry could turn out. Now, comments Mr Plowden, the concept of a ' right not to own cars is feebly making itself felt and it is being accepted that ; there is a public responsibility to provide transport, even at a loss. But to suggest that there might be social . grounds for checking the increase in ' private cars is still to risk being I labelled as an undemocratic crank. > The author supplies bibliography, a > large section of references for each 1 chapter, appendices on motoring offences and average fines, motor i vehicles in use and road casualties, and - an index. 4