Key information

3 The impact of car ownership and other travel developments, 1918-79

- The relationship between GB people and car ownership has closely mirrored changes in affluence throughout the 20thC

- The development of GB into a car-owning society has seen dramatic transformations in the country's transport infrastructure and urban environment, with thousands of miles of motorways being built over the course of the century

- towns and cities have been redesigned and remodelled to accommodate cars and vehicles themselves have been advertised and marketed as aspirational possessions

- since the birth of the GB auto industry, cars have been presented as status symbols or expressions of individuality, success and sex appeal; the growth of car ownership has seen a decline in public transport

- the development in foreign holidays meant a huge growth in air travel

the interwar car industry, 1918-39

- throughout the 20s and 30s there had been a dramatic shift away from the use of horse drawn carriages; 200,000 in 1923 and 12,000 in 1937

- there was a rapid decline in tram usage as town and city council switched to buses instead

- the effect of this was to transform the environment of inner cities; by 1934 there were nearly 2.5m cars on GB roads of which half were privately owned

- most cars produced in the 20s were prohibitively expensive; The Rover 10/25 cost £250 ( £11,000 today) in 1929 and was far beyond anything most families could afford

- by the 30s however, car prices had fallen considerably; an Austin Seven, small family car, cost £125 and the Morris Minor SV was the first £100 car - produced in 1931

- car ownership in the 30s was overwhelming the preserves of the middle class; these prices were affordable for the middle class but often not for the working class

- there were numerous secondhand car dealers who sold cars for approx £40-70; these were more affordable and some families formed syndicates where they shared the cost and usage of the car

- the development of mass marketing and consumerism made cars a desirable and sought after possession

road building

- the rapid growth in car ownership led to an expansion of GB's roads network in the 30s

- many new tarmac-covered roads were built on pre-existing highways, but new roads, often cutting through GB's most scenic countryside, were also built.

- major civil engineering projects such as the Mersey Tunnel (opened 1934) and the Great North Road (finished 1939) ere the result of increased car ownership. but there were very few major roads in GB by the eve of WW2

road traffic act ->

- in 1930 the road traffic act removed speed limits from all but the most dangerous stretches of road, because the original 20mph speed limit was almost enforceable

-without sophisticated methods of ascertaining speed, the police were unable to bring effective prosecutions

- the 1930 act did contribute to road safety in other ways: compulsory 3rd party insurance; the highway code; powers for local authorities to control traffic with traffic lights, roundabouts and one way streets

road deaths ->

- between 1926-30 there were 124,000 car crashes in GB which resulted in >4,800 deaths

- motorists causes 80% of the deaths

- in 1934 there were 7,343 deaths and 231,603 injuries

- in 1934 a new road traffic act was made which introduced a 30mph speed limit in residential areas and brought in pedestrian crossings

- the new act also meant that drivers had to pass a test to drive now

new industries ->

- a new industry of car workshops, garage and petrol stations developed in order to provide motorists with everything they needed to keep a car running

- car industries had become progressively more reliable by the 30s and therefore consumer increasingly looked to cars as a better way of travel than rail travel

- driving also became a leisure activity in its own right; travel guides for drivers with detailed maps and ideas about places to visit and stay became popular

- cars were used for day trips and weekend excursions and a new market emerged for books on rural GB

cars and consumer boom

- car production in GB was interrupt

by WW2 as production lines were used to build fighter aircraft; the war also placed restrictions on the amount of petrol motorists could use and rationing of petrol continued until 1950

- after the war many of the models that came off the production lines were plagued with problems and faults

- a combination of poor labour relations in car factories such as Ford’s Dagenham plant and Morris Motor’s factory at Cowley and autocratic management styles in most of GB’s major car companies resulted in a weakened car industry

- by the 70s the car industry was becoming synonymous with faulty and poor-quality cars; when PM James Callaghan ordered 2 new ministerial cars from Rover they had to be returned due to having 34 faults including the window function

- GB consumers responded to the decline in domestic cars by increasing choosing imports

- as GB average wages continued to rise throughout the 60s, car ownership increased; 2.2m cars were registered in London alone by the end of the decade , as many as there had been in the entire country just 3 decades earlier

- by 1972 there were 13m drivers on GB’s roads and they were increasingly buying better made and cheaper cars from overseas, in particular, Japan and Germany; 1/3 of cars were imported in 1975 and 1/2 by 1979

- GB consumers bought millions of Volkswagen Beetles and later Golfs and the smaller reliable and cheap Japanese car the Datsun Sunny

- the failure of the GB car industry had little overall impact on the living standards or driving habits of motorists in the UK; most demonstrated that their loyalty was to low price, high quality and reliability and not to GB companies

- significantly, car ownership was not spread equally across the nation; as early as the 50s middle class families often owned 2 cars and as a result could commute to work

- a result of commuting enabled new villages to be built such as Tewin Wood in Hetfordshire; they were often exclusive to the middle class however

- a working class family was less likely to have a car and thus the children often stayed local even when going to university

- the rise in car ownership however saw a decline in journeys by bus and coaches; these had grown significantly with the growth of holidays and by 1952 accounted for 42% of all journeys at 92 billion km, by 1969 this had fell to 286 billion km

The mini ->

- in 1959 the most iconic GB car of the post war era was manufactured

- the mini, built by the GB Motor Corporation, was extremely popular and sold nearly 1.2m vehicles in GB and around the world

- the car was small, fashionable and affordable in the early 60s but actually made a loss on every vehicle sold

Roads and motorways

- the development of GB into a car owning society resulted in a dramatic expansion of the road network from the 30s onwards; the 60s and 70s were the most significant

- In 1958 the Preston bypass road opened (first 8mile stretch of motorway) and was followed in 1959 by the M1 (London-Birmingham)

- the 60s and 70s saw many motorways being completed; the development of these major new high speed roads had a significant impact on the quality of life for much of the population

- environmentalists complained about the loss of green space and habitats for wild animals and home owners close to motorways felt that the noise and traffic impacted on their lifestyles.

- people became more mobile and found it easier than ever before to travel across the country ; motorways also made it easier for people to commute, relocate and live further away from the communities they grew up in

beeching axe ->

- the rise in the popularity of cars as a means of passenger transport did not in itself result in a decline in the use of the train network

- figures tended to hold up between 1955 and 1965 at 994m and 865m passenger-kilometers with a peak of 1,100m in 1960

- it was more that rising operating costs, including wages, meant tat nationalised railways ceased making a profit at the start of the 1960s and by 1962 had made a £104m loss (~£300,000 a day)

- Dr Richard Beeching, head of the British Transport Commission, decided to prioritise road networks; wanted to remove 5,000 miles of railway despite widespread public opposition

- by the end of this, GB had half its railway capacity; this caused them to be congested but also fall in usage, by 1982 passenger-kilometers fell to 32m

- pre beeching axe there had already been 3,000 miles cutin the 1950s and between 1948-61 railway staff fell 26%

international travel

- roll-on roll-off ferries made taking a car abroad easier and cheaper however people preferred air travel

- first international air service began August 1919 when Air Transport and Travel flew one passenger from Hounslow near London to LeBourget near Paris for £21

- many others began to follow and using converted wartime aircraft; demand was low and most companies were short lived

- in 1924 the 4 major GB companies amalgamated into Imperial Airways with government subsidies to encourage the development of air routes to countries in the Empire

-by 1932 it was possible to fly to Australia using GB colonies as fuelling stations

- the interwar period was the more glamorous age for air travel yet demand remained low ; 1937 saw fewer than 250,000 passengers and even by 1955 less than 1m (could fly direct to USA by this point)

- advent of cheap holidays led to a growing demand; by 1970 14m passengers

- one factor in cheap fights pioneered by Laker Airlines began June 1966; they were charter only and so were booked in advance by holiday companies as part of joint holiday resort and transport package for their customers, pre-cursors of modern 'no frills' airlines

conclusions

the period 1918-79 saw many developments in transport in keeping with increased demand

far more people found independence in car ownership although the offshoot has been overcrowded roads and often underfunded alternatives

the development of charter flights made cheap air travel possible and more people gained experience of domestic and foreign travel