‘Overwhelming majority’ of UK motorists back ‘Brexit’ – ABD

12.00 | 22 June 2016 | | 10 comments

The overwhelming majority of Alliance of British Drivers (ABD) members want the UK to leave the European Union, leading the ‘drivers’ lobby group’ to suggest the same is true of motorists in general.

The ABD survey gauged its membership’s views on EU laws introduced over the past decade which directly impact on drivers. 

79% of respondents said they wanted to leave the EU, compared with just 10% who said they would vote to remain. A further 10% were undecided.

Last week, the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Road Safety (PACTS) published a paper which, without actually saying so, suggests a ‘Remain’ vote would best serve the interests of road safety.

A separate poll published on 15 June, conducted by the Intelligent Instructor magazine, gauged the views of 200 ADIs and suggests that 50% intended to vote to leave the EU, while 19% remain undecided.

The ABD says the aim of its survey was to discover whether drivers felt changes in European road policy have had a positive, negative or neutral impact on driving in Britain.

Nearly two thirds of respondents (64%) said they felt the EU had had a negative effect on the cost of driving in Britain, compared to just 3% who felt it was positive.

There was ‘strong opposition’ (53%) to plans for halving the number of petrol or diesel cars allowed in urban transport zones by 2030.

60% of those surveyed also opposed the European Parliament’s eCall regulation which, from 2018, will require all new cars and small vans to be fitted with a GPS tracking system to share a vehicle’s location.

In a separate survey commissioned by the ABD and carried out by ComRes, 61% of respondents opposed EU plans to introduce road tolls pricing (a standardised charge per driven kilometre) across the European road network, including Great Britain.

Nigel Humphries, ABD spokesman, said: "Road tolls are a regressive form of taxation that hits low income families the hardest. Pricing families out of their car would mean reduced mobility resulting in a lower quality of life and an additional barrier to finding and travelling to work."

FOOTNOTE: The ABD has subsequently informed us that it has 4,750 members, 575 of whom participated in the Referendum survey.

 

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    As just under 52% of voters voted for Leave, while just over 48% voted to Remain, than it must have been almost unanimous support for Remain amongst the 30% of electorate who aren’t motorists … if the ABD were to be believed.


    David S, Scotland
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    This is inappropriatley themed information for this website.


    P Thorpe
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    The additional information re the sample size that Nick has obtained from ABD will enable our readers to decide what level of credibility they give to the ABD claims. We seek to provide a relevant and up to date newsfeed that covers all sorts of road safety related news items and opinions, not just those with which we agree.


    Honor Byford, Chair, Road Safety GB
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    I take ABD comments with a pinch of salt – like I do with most lobby groups. However I don’t expect RSGB to act as media censor. Keeping posting articles from all sides please RSGB.


    Pat, Wales
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    I echo Mr McIvor’s comment. If 79% of 575 ABD members (i.e. 454) back Brexit, but their total membership is actually 4,750 then they cannot say “The overwhelming majority of Alliance of British Drivers (ABD) members want the UK to leave the European Union…” The profession shouldn’t take the ABD’s views seriously anyway.


    Hugh Jones
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    I can’t believe that you are giving any credence to this ridiculous piece of fake “research”. It greatly undermines your organisation’s credibility to be giving publicity to an organisation whose main purpose is to remove road safety legislation and tools.


    Rob McIvor, London
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    Rod

    The headline is clearly attributed to the ABD and the first para makes it very clear this is their conclusion:

    ‘Overwhelming majority’ of UK motorists back ‘Brexit’ – ABD
    The overwhelming majority of Alliance of British Drivers (ABD) members want the UK to leave the European Union, leading the ‘drivers’ lobby group’ to suggest the same is true of motorists in general.


    Nick Rawlings, editor, Road Safety News
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    Which just goes to show how unrepresentative of the general public the ABD are!

    And can we change the heading which conflates “the overwhelming majority of UK motorists” with the “overwhelming majority of ABD members surveyed”. Whilst one would expect such from ABD and the Brextremists, it does not become a road safety organisation to make such mistakes.


    Rod King, Cheshire, 20’s Plenty for Us
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    Iain – we did ask ABD how many members it has and how many participated in the survey but they have not as yet responded. If they do we will add this detail to the story.


    Nick Rawlings, editor, Road Safety News
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    I’m left with more questions than answers here. What number of respondents and what questions were asked? Which EU laws were highlighted? It would very easy to pick some obviously unpopular ones and not mention others that might actaully be of benefit, should an organisation wish to do so.


    Iain Temperton, Norfolk
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