It's not only the hefty price of young driver car insurance that is keeping people off the roads, but the rising price of petrol too, recent research has revealed.
According to a survey by motor insurance firm More Than, more than a third of UK motorists have cut back on their car usage as a result of escalating fuel costs. 36% of those questioned admitted to making fewer journeys over the past year because of the price of filling their tank, while 22% even went as far as claiming they would give up driving altogether if fuel rose to more than a pound a litre.
David Pitt, head of car insurance at More Than, commented on the results, saying, "Rising fuel prices are having a real impact on motorists' behaviour, to the extent that a significant number have already cut back on the number of journeys they make.
"If prices continue to escalate, motorists will tighten their purse-strings even further and we will no doubt see more considering different means of transport."
But Britain's road users have revealed their disgust at the costs of motoring, and it is possible that if current trends continue there could be a repeat of the crippling fuel embargo that hauliers executed several years ago.
One motorist questioned on the subject by Hoot Car Insurance Services, providers of young driver car insurance, was Audrey Guibert. A sophisticated twentysomething from France, now working as a saleswoman in Manchester, Miss Guibert said, "The price of petrol in this country is simply disgusting.
"But what option have you got but to pay for it? The public transport here is a joke too, extortionately expensive, completely unreliable and dangerously unsafe, so until the Government sorts that out, people have got no choice but to drive."