URBAN 4X4s: Not Safe. Not Clean. Not Cool.

Campaigners gathered on College Green, after spending the morning issuing over 1,000 mock parking tickets to 4x4s in areas of central Bristol including Redland, Clifton and Broadmead. The paper tickets, which are placed harmlessly under the windscreen wipers of parked vehicles, are titled ‘Poor Vehicle Choice’ and challenge the need to own and drive a 4x4 vehicle in town. The dependent media were interested in the launch of the campaign. HTV shot a TV news item. Members of the group were interviewed by BBC Radio Bristol / GWR and Star. Stories appeared in the Bristol Evening Post and BBC Online. The Alliance aims to use peaceful and humorous means to raise awareness of the problems associated with 4x4 usage in cities like Bristol, led by concerns over road safety, road space and climate change. Although 4x4s are marketed as being safer than smaller cars – and many drivers buy them on this assumption – a series of expert reports warns this is not the case. Euro-NCAP crash tests and accident figures show that the greater weight and height of 4x4s increases the risk of rollover and makes them more dangerous in accidents with smaller vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians. The British Medical Journal has run articles calling for ‘health warnings’ on 4x4s due to their increased injury risk, and a recent study in the US found the likelihood of a pedestrian fatality is nearly doubled in the event of a collision with a large 4x4 compared with a passenger car. There is also evidence that 4x4s pose extra dangers to the drivers of other cars – the Transport Research Laboratory has found that in a crash, the person driving a smaller car is 12 times more likely to be killed than the person in the 4x4. 4x4s also produce far more carbon dioxide – the main gas associated with climate change – per kilometre than smaller cars. A large 4x4 such as the Range Rover Discovery 4.4 produces 354g CO2/km – more than three times that of a Ford Fiesta, Peugeot 206 or Renault Clio (diesel models). TV presenter David Attenborough has said that driving a 4x4 is “morally wrong” and the energy minister Malcolm Wicks has criticised the “crass irresponsibility” of those who drive large 4x4s around the suburbs. The Alliance has received offers of help from over 100 Bristol residents so far, and sent out over 3,000 spoof parking tickets for distribution. On Monday we received a huge number of email orders for spoof parking tickets from concerned Bristol residents. Many new members have joined and are enthusiastic to start local groups in Redland and Bishopton. They plan to stage humorous direct actions against the 4x4s in Bristol that endanger the lives of people and the future of the planet. Thanks to everyone who helped organise our successful launch and came to College Green on Saturday and thanks to Claire for the inspiration.

Email: bristol4x4alliance at yahoo.co.uk for more information on how you can be part of this campaign.