Petrol Prices

I’ve been meaning to write something on this topic for a while now, and I think I’ve probably missed the boat, but that’s never stopped me before so why stop now?

Petrol prices have been rising steadily since I can remember. However, in the past few months they’ve risen steeply – it now costs well over a pound per litre. A lot of people have been calling for the government to intervene, i.e. by lowering tax on petrol.

I’m not sure that would be a good move: there are a few positives to petrol prices being high. Namely:

• There are now less people on the roads. It’s actually quite noticeable, driving to work in rush hour – there is less traffic around. Admittedly we are currently in the summer holidays so there’s less traffic around anyway, but aside from that it does seem the traffic has eased off a bit. And of course, less traffic generally means shorter journey times!
• People are going more slowly, on average. This can’t be a bad thing!
• It discourages people from using the car unnecessarily, meaning less CO2 emissions. Again, a good thing.
• It encourages people to use public transport where possible.

All in all, although there are definite downsides to higher petrol prices, sometimes it’s good to look on the bright side