British Social Attitudes Survey 2017: Public attitudes towards transport


Organisation: Department for Transport
Date uploaded: 26th July 2018
Date published/launched: July 2018


This annual survey suggests that scepticism towards speed cameras is declining, with more people believing the technology saves lives.The British Social Attitudes Survey for 2017 shows 29% of people believe there are too many speed cameras – down from 47% in 2008.

Meanwhile, 60% of respondents said speed cameras save lives – up from 42% in 2005.

42% believe speed cameras are mostly there to make money, down from 58% in 2004, while 55% agreed that ‘average speed cameras are preferable to fixed speed cameras’.

The Government has been conducting the British Social Attitudes Survey, which measures people’s attitudes to transport, since 1996. It covers issues including willingness to change current travel behaviours, attitudes to the environment and transport, congestion and views on road safety.

90% of respondents believe using a hand-held mobile phone at the wheel is dangerous, a figure which falls to 53% when discussing hands-free devices – with 41% believing hands-free devices should be banned.

85% believe that ‘if someone has drunk any alcohol they should not drive’ – however 71% believe that ‘most people don’t know how much alcohol they can drink before being over the legal drink drive limit’.

30% want residential streets to be closed to through traffic, while 47% are in favour of having speed bumps to slow down traffic.

Looking at the environment, 63% of respondents are concerned about exhaust fumes from traffic in towns and cities – up from 44% in 2012.

Willingness to buy a car with lower CO2 emissions has risen to 79% in 2017, from 72% in 2011.

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