Island Life Magazine Ltd August/September 2012 | Page 99

Countryliving
Time for a vehicle re-think
There seems to be more hurdles to running a

and more difficult – double yellow lines spring

vehicle than ever before.

up everywhere, residents parking zones,

Car ownership in 2001 on the Island remained
slightly higher than the national average with

reasons no doubt. But the shrinking number of

75.3 per cent of households owning at least

available spaces (to say nothing of increasing

one car up from 63.8 per cent in 1981.

costs) when car numbers are increasing makes

These vehicles run on only 492 miles of
roads. Learning to drive is incredibly expensive

Sam Biles looks
at whether the
days of unlimited
car ownership on
the Island are now
coming to an end.

pedestrian zones abound – all for logical

getting around more and more difficult.
Many would rather shop online or go without

now – the cost of a course of lessons (from

rather t