The Real Reason For the War on Cars

In the Sun this week, long-time defender of road users and the Reform Party’s former candidate for London Mayor, Howard Cox, finds “proof that the war on drivers has been revved up”. In 2023, 18 million penalty charge notices (PCNs) were given to motorists for various infractions. As Cox relates, many believe the rules these drivers have broken are designed, not to regulate the efficient and proper use of the road, but to rinse money from hapless drivers. One hatched yellow box (road markings into which vehicles are not permitted to stop) in Hammersmith raised £2.7 million for the the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. But this war on motorists, and against the car, does not begin and end here.

Cars are, of course, public enemy #1 as far as extreme green-leaning local authorities under the control of all legacy parties are concerned. Over recent years, we’ve seen the increasing, and arguably often unnecessary regulation of speed, the closure of roads to create Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs), congestion charges, Clean Air Zones (CAZs), Moving Traffic Violations (MTVs), and lethal Smart Motorways, all of which create new, and often confusing conditions for road use. And of course, these new regulatory interventions are enforced by financial penalties, which fall disproportionately on those who are less able to pay, but who drive out of economic necessity. Failing to pay within a certain time limit typically results in the doubling of the fine. And failing to pay that can soon result in visits from poorly regulated and aggressive bailiffs.