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The Upside of the Downturn

Rap star P Diddy has had to ground his personal jet for flights between Los Angeles and New York. Tragically, despite his multi-millionaire status, rising fuel prices have meant his round trips to promote his acting career, are now costing him more than £100,000 a time. The poor love has decided to switch to commercial airlines.

But P Diddy is not alone in unintentionally giving the planet some room to breathe – the credit crunch and the rising cost of running a car has caused traffic on Britain’s major roads to drop for the first time since congestion was measured. A new study, which examined traffic on 34 motorways and trunk roads in England, Scotland and Wales, found congestion fell by 12 per cent in the first six months of this year, compared with the same period in 2007.

The route with the most dramatic fall in congestion was the northern section of the M25, which showed a 26 per cent reduction in traffic jams over the period measured. Journey times around Birmingham also improved markedly with a decrease of 9.9 per cent. Overall journey times have improved by 0.3 per cent even though the average speed of traffic slowed from 63.3mph to 62.2mph.

The report’s publication follows figures from the Department of Transport which show the number of cars on the road has decreased in the first two quarters of this year, compared with the same period last year. Experts say the credit crunch and the rising cost of petrol and road tax had contributed to people cutting back on car use. Petrol is now more than £1.20 per litre in some places, while a litre of diesel can cost as much as £1.40.

Elizabeth Dainton, at the RAC Foundation, said “people appear to be aware of what is known as eco-driving. They realise that if they drive slower they will be able to make a tank of fuel go that bit further. It’s quite sensible when you consider most people will be paying upwards of £60 for a tank of fuel.”

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