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Your support makes all the difference.The car travel has become even more popular according to the latest national travel survey.
The car travel has become even more popular according to the latest national travel survey.
The distance people travelled by car in the period 1997-1999 had increased by 41 per cent since the mid-1980s, the statistics showed.
Car travel accounted for 80 per cent of the total distance travelled by all modes, while the number of children being driven to school has increased from 22 per cent in the mid-1980s to 38 per cent in 1997-99.
On average, British residents travelled 6,806 miles each year in the period 1997/99. This was an increase of 28 per cent since 1985-86, mainly due to the increasing length of journeys.
In the mid 1980s, the average journey length was 5.2 miles, but this had increased by a quarter to 6.5 miles in 1997/99.
Britons now spend a total of just over two weeks each year (about one hour per day) travelling. Approximately nine days (61 per cent) of this time is spent travelling by car, and three days walking.
The National Travel Survey, published by the Department of Transport, also showed: The average number of journeys made in 1997-99 was 1,046 per person per year, 2% up on 1985-86. 27% of journeys were less than a mile - and 80% of them were on foot. The car was the dominant mode of transport for all journeys of more than a mile. Men made an average of 1,056 trips per year, 2% more than women, but travelled just over 8,000 miles a year, 40% more than women. 29% of households in Great Britain did not have access to a car in 1997-99, compared to 38% in 1985-86. 82% of adult men held full car driving licences, but only 59% of women. Licence holding is still increasing rapidly among women, having doubled over the last 20 years, but the proportion of men holding licences has changed little since the late 1980s. Britons walked an average of 191 miles per person per year - less than 3% of the total distance travelled. In total, leisure purposes accounted for almost a third of journeys. One in five trips was to the shops, and one in six to and from work. Men made 18% of their journeys commuting to and from work, with an additional 5% spent on business travel. For women, only 13% of journeys were to and from work, and 2% on business. Women made more than 20% more shopping trips than men. Since the mid-1980s, the proportion of primary-aged children walking to school has declined from 67% to 53%. Only 2% of secondary pupils now cycle to school. The number of rural households with good access to a bus service (living within 13 minutes' walk of a bus stop with a service of at least once an hour) rose from 35% in 1985-86 to 42% in 1997-99.
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