Leading Article: K is for kar kulture

THE nation's annual car-buying orgy is in the throes of multiple orgasm. The original reason for changing the registration letter of car number plates on 1 August appears to have been to give a mid-season fillip to car sales. It has now reached a point at which nearly a quarter of all cars sold in Britain this year, perhaps 400,000 out of an estimated 1.6 million, will be registered in August, many in the first 10 days of the month. Car buyers do it not just, or even mainly, for the ephemeral cachet of being first with the new letter. They postpone their buying decisions largely because they reckon the second-hand value of a K-reg car will be higher than that of a J-reg; in reality, dealers are more interested in the year of registration. So sales dry up in the preceding months, then the market is suddenly glutted with traded-in cars.

The system typifies the irrationality that automobiles induce in the human race. If anyone who died more than a century ago were able to revisit this earth, he or she would surely be amazed above all by the sight of millions of metal capsules on wheels propelling people around at seemingly insane speeds. The car was originally seen as a symbol of freedom. It gave its owners an unprecedented ability to travel swiftly from their home to a more or less distant destination. Trains, once invented, were fine for longer distances, but getting to and from them was troublesome, especially with luggage.

The sense of freedom lives on, but the price paid climbs ever higher in terms of congestion, local and global pollution, danger to other road users, and sheer cost to owners. If these last were more rational, and the car lobby less powerful, all these factors would produce a market solution. People would use their cars only for longer journeys, in cities at off-peak periods, in the country where alternatives do not exist. Experience shows, however, that car owners would rather suffer regular and lengthy delays in traffic jams in the comfort and privacy of their personal cocoon with its radio and cassette player than endure the discomfort of public transport. Equally, they would rather drive some distance to do a big weekly shop at a supermarket than carry heavy bags of provisions back from local stores.

Does gridlock lie ahead? Can matters only get worse as the number of cars on the road inexorably rises on this crowded isle? Will motorways and cities become so congested that we will soon think of two hours stationary in a jam as normal? Will the volume of noxious emissions trigger a serious degree of global warming? Optimism may seem rash, but there are grounds for hope.

The level of awareness of the dangers has risen sharply. Dramatic progress is being made in reducing emissions. The importance of providing efficient alternatives in the shape of good public transport services is being taken increasingly seriously. The pedestrianisation of city centres, coupled with park-and-ride schemes from the periphery and residents' parking schemes in the suburbs, has sharply reduced the number of cars in cities such as Oxford, Cambridge, Exeter and Bath. In London, red bus routes are at last speeding up bus services, and residents' parking schemes - admittedly often imperfectly devised - help to exclude those who park as close as possible to the centre before taking public transport.

There is even a growing acknowledgement of the need to counter the culture of the office car. Virtually free cars for employees are a perk of dubious justification. Even harder to defend are the added benefits of free parking and free petrol. That combination brings out hundreds of thousands of cars belonging to commuters who would otherwise pay to use public transport. Ironically, in the post- war years planning regulations obliged office developers to provide a minimum level of parking space. The aim was to get cars off the road. How nave that seems today. There should now be incentives for employers to convert or close those car parks, or to reward those who choose not to use them.

Planning authorities should also greatly increase the provision of cycle paths. In Holland and Denmark, bicycles are seen primarily as a means of transport. Here they tend to be associated with leisure. Yet commuting by bike is spreading. It deserves to be encouraged and made safer. The best hope of taming our love affair with the car must lie in its reverting to its old status as a very special means of transport, reserved for non-routine occasions. For all others, we should normally take public transport, a bicycle - or walk. The benefits to our pocket and health would be considerable.