This page contains a summary of how the Association of British Drivers (ABD) represents UK motorists and what our policies are.   The ABD was founded in 1992 by our Chairman, Brian Gregory. Our objective is to provide an active, responsible voice to lobby on behalf of Britain's drivers. We believe that official policies in recent years, both from the national Government and from London bodies such as the Greater London Authority (headed by the Mayor of London) and Transport for London have discriminated against drivers by means of misleading information, obstruction, restriction, delay and taxation.

Road Pricing and Congestion Tolls

The UK Government is promoting road pricing and congestion tolls which will undoubtedly mean even higher taxes for the average road user. In addition it is likely to  involve routine surveillance of your every movement and an  invasion of your privacy. The   consent of the British people has never been sought for these schemes – typically they are justified on erroneous environmental grounds when the real facts are ignored, and the practicality and enormous costs never debated. The London Congestion Charge has not been a success despite claims that it has, and is enormously expensive to operate.

Taxation

Each year the Government raises over £50 billion in taxes from road users and that’s why we have some of the most expensive fuel in Europe. Only a very small fraction of the money raised is spent on improving our roads (about £7bn). The result — you end up sitting in traffic jams.

Road Safety

Road safety policy has become distorted in the UK by anti-car and anti-motorist policies. Speed cameras breed like rabbits so that millions of people now receive speeding fines, but road deaths  are barely dropping. A whole industry has developed of collecting money from motorists in the name of road safety, when there is no hard scientific evidence for any benefit and the UK is  falling behind other countries in reducing casualties.

Speed humps have sprouted everywhere causing major problems for people with medical conditions, delays to emergency vehicles, more noise/air pollution, constant annoyance to road users and much higher costs from vehicle damage. But there  is no evidence of any net benefit.

Parking

Parking costs are rising rapidly, and provision falling, as local authorities use it as a “demand management” technique to cut traffic – in reality they just make life enormously inconvenient for the typical motorist. Decriminalised parking regulations and fixed penalty notices for bus lane and box   junction infringements erode your basic human rights to a fair hearing, and are often used primarily to raise money by local councils.

The Environment

The use of road transport is being attacked on environmental grounds. But air pollution from private cars has been falling substantially and technology is going to make matters even better over the next few years.

Emissions from all kinds of transport are only a fraction of total air pollutants, and those from private cars an even smaller factor. Unreasonable and unnecessary attacks on car usage will not solve any environmental problems. The people questioning the use of private cars are often unreasonably prejudiced or ignore the facts.

Why You Should Support the ABD

Private cars and motor-bikes provide the most flexible, and most cost effective transport mode and are used for more than 85% of journeys. Those who wish to stop you using them often have vested interests in public transport or otherwise wish to curtail your freedom. Joining the ABD means you can help to fight these unreasonable attacks. Go to the Membership page for more information. A copy of our printed membership leaflet is contained in the following pdf file: Membership_Leaflet. Note that the ABD is a non-profit organisation run primarily by volunteers.