Car dependency is now at its highest level since RAC began monitoring it 17 years ago. Now nine in 10 motorists would find it very difficult to adjust their lifestyles to being without a car and admit to using their car every single day. With the average motorist clocking up nearly 11,000 miles per year and almost half of them being part of a two car family, it's clear that the car has a pivotal role in British life. But with this dependency and in order to retain an individual's 'right to drive' comes a trade-off; owning and using a car is often far from being fun and enjoyable. It comes with various frustrations and some considerable dangers, which if we are to attempt to mitigate, need to be tackled in a concerted way. This Report focuses on how we might do that in order to bring more enjoyment back to driving.

The majority of British motorists are under-whelmed by car ownership, considering their vehicle to be'just another household appliance' which they are increasingly dependent upon in daily life. Smaller proportions confess to a more emotional bond, with 22% considering their car to be 'a toy to have some fun with', 24% as 'something impressive to be seen in' and 29% 'a close friend or confidante'. Not surprisingly, it is the younger, 'flashier' drivers who are most likely to consider their cars in one of these ways; older and low mileage drivers are far more ambivalent. With this in mind, it figures that many motorists think driving is a drag; 44% of them believe that 'All the fun has gone out of driving these days' and only 14% disagree strongly with this sentiment. Again, it is younger drivers who find motoring most fun (perhaps because passing their test represents a taste of real freedom and adulthood), a factor that diminishes slightly the more points one gains on one's licence for driving offences.