Jeep joins forces with the Green Lane Association and TreadLightly! UK
It turns out a lot of us in the UK are missing out on proper green-laning fun – and not because we don’t own a 4x4, but because we simply don’t know our rights when it comes to using them off-road. Jeep reckons most drivers have never experienced the joy of a green lane, so they’ve teamed up with the Green Lane Association (GLASS) and TreadLightly! UK to help change that, offering off-road test drives straight from Jeep dealerships onto the nation’s unsurfaced roads.
Now, if you’ve never ventured beyond the tarmac, and new to this website, here’s the lowdown: Britain is criss-crossed with thousands of miles of green lanes – proper legal routes where you can swap asphalt for mud, grass and gravel. GLASS, founded in 1995, fights the good fight for countryside access for everyone – whether you’re on foot, horseback, or in something with knobbly tyres. TreadLightly! UK chips in by showing us how to do it all without trashing the place – because no one likes a churned-up mess of a lane.
According to Jeep’s latest study, 58% of people don’t have the faintest clue about their legal rights to drive off-road, and exactly the same percentage admit they’ve never actually tried it. Even more surprising, 72% of us don’t know what a green lane even is. That’s like living by the seaside and never having heard of a beach. Almost half (42%) have never driven on one, and 78% couldn’t tell you where the nearest one is – even if it was just down the lane from the local pub.
This new partnership is all about changing that. Jeep, GLASS and TreadLightly! UK want to get more people out exploring, while also teaching them to do it responsibly. It’s a win-win: you get the adventure, and the countryside doesn’t get wrecked in the process.
Confidence seems to be another issue. When asked how they’d feel about taking their car off-road, only 9% said “very confident”. The biggest group – 26% – admitted they wouldn’t be confident at all. But here’s the kicker: 19% of drivers do think off-road capability is important when buying a car, yet a quarter admit their current motor couldn’t handle anything rougher than a damp car park.
To bridge the gap, Jeep dealers will now have access to GLASS’s mapping software and expert advice from local reps, as well as offering potential buyers proper off-road test drives. That means you can try out a Jeep on the kind of terrain it was actually built for, not just on a dual carriageway during rush hour.
Kristian Cholmondeley, Jeep UK’s Managing Director, puts it nicely:
“Jeep vehicles allow people to get outside and explore the world around them. This partnership with GLASS allows us to not only educate our drivers on what our cars can do, but how to do so with care.”
Chris Mitchell, Chairman of GLASS, is equally chuffed:
“We’re delighted to be working with Jeep to help their customers feel confident in driving away from surfaced roads and out into the countryside through the use of our unique TrailWise2 route-planning software.”
So, whether it’s the iconic, go-anywhere Wrangler – backed by eight decades of 4x4 know-how – or the all-new Avenger 4xe, the most capable Avenger yet, Jeep’s hoping to tempt more of us off the beaten track. And honestly, given the choice between another boring trip round the ring road and a Sunday blast through the mud, we know which one we’d pick.
To find out more about the partnership, visit: https://www.jeep.co.uk/4x4-off-road-driving
