Photo credit: Yun Huang Yong
I would like to ask you a question now, and hopefully you will give me an honest answer; How much do you use your car?
As I work from home I don’t have a regular commute to work but I take my daughter to nursery then pick her up again every day. Apart from that I do random trips to buy cauliflowers and exchange mis-sold pipes and such like a couple of times a week.
I thought that I used my vehicle on a regular basis but when I think about it, the old fellow spends a lot of time sitting in the drive not doing much. I would love to drive to new and exciting places every day but life just seems to get in the way.
Only 4% on the Move
I only bring up this point because a recent report stated that the average car in the UK spends 80% of its life parked at home, 16% parked elsewhere and the remaining 4% on the go.
This sounds like a really sad figure at first, doesn’t it? 4% of a lifetime isn’t very much at all. You probably spend 4% of your life staring out of your window or sitting on the toilet.
However, when you think about it, it is pretty hard to get more hours in your car. First off, you will want to sleep about 8 hours a night, more if at all possible. Then, unless you are lucky enough to drive for a living you need to work for 8 hours a day, less if at all possible.
Then we have to factor in eating, lying down for a rest, going to the toilet, staring out of the window and doing the dishes. In fact, it’s a miracle that you get time to drive your car at all.
I am aware that if I drive my car too much I will destroy the planet but I reckon that it is time to get our cars out and running and enjoy them more. If I need to stare out of the window less then so be it.