New national poll reveals we all want a ride with Brad
13/06/2005

Brad Pitt is the person we would most like to share our journey to work with according to a recent poll by the Energy Saving Trust (EST) to mark National liftshare day.

Thirty six per cent of voters chose Brad as the favourite to share their front seat, with George Bush coming a close second; David Beckham trailed as the person we would least like to hitch a ride with.

The online poll, which included the likes of Kylie, Tony Blair and Nelson Mandela, was undertaken by EST to raise awareness of car sharing as one way of combating climate change.

The average car commuter travels 19 miles a day emitting on average 6kg of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), one of the gases attributed to climate change, enough to fill 210 party balloons.  Car emissions are also responsible for other toxic gases and particles collecting in our atmosphere, particles that can aggravate respiratory problems such as asthma, especially in children and the elderly.

Philip Sellwood , Chief Executive of EST said; "By sharing our cars we could halve these emissions and take half the cars off the road, thus easing congestion.  Yet a recent EST survey shows that only nine per cent of us would be prepared to share a car in order to reduce our emissions.

 "We have heard from politicians and environmental organizations of the measures that must be taken to cut congestion and reduce car emissions before it is too late.  Road user charging and levels of road tax will go some way to addressing these problems but there are also simpler, cheaper and more immediate steps we can take as individuals. 

"Car sharing is just one way we can all reduce our CO 2 emissions and help combat climate change. There are hundreds of car sharing schemes across the country and we would like everyone traveling to work today in their car to consider sharing their next journey; you never know if you're lucky you might even find your own Brad Pitt."

Events are being run across the country today by liftshare.com in partnership with the Environment Agency's summer long campaign for World Environment Day; encouraging people to sign-up to small everyday actions, such as car sharing, that make a big difference to our environment.

Barbara Young, Chief Executive, Environment Agency said; " It's easy to think your 'little bit' will be insignificant but the statistics show that every bit does count. Everyone can do something to help the environment and by working together a few small actions can make an enormous difference to our world. The World Environment Day campaign shows that by making small changes to our daily lives we can all help to save the world's precious resources as well as time and money."

Imogen Martineau, coordinator of National liftshare Day said;  "There are currently more than 400 people signing up to car-share every day, both t hr ough liftshare.com and t hr ough the regional and business schemes.  We expect this number to increase dramatically on National liftshare Day as even more people find out about car-sharing and how easy it is to organise."