10: Determinants of Car Dependence

This chapter looks at how car dependence varies in Scotland, a highly motorised country. An overview of the factors influencing car dependence and travel and transport choices more generally is developed. Car-dependent places, car-dependent trips and car-dependent persons are distinguished. It is shown that most motorists are already multi-modal transport users with prior experience of other modes. The prospects for modal shift from die-hard drivers, complacent car users, malcontented motorists and aspiring environmentalists are given along with the different policy pulls and pushes required to impact on their car use.

As Part 1 of this volume has shown, at both an individual and collective level the disbenefits of car travel and threats to the quality of life from car traffic are increasingly apparent (see RAC, 1995; Engwicht, 1998; Adams, 2000; Litman, 1999; Newman and Kenworthy, 1999; Semlyen, 2000; Goodwin, 2001; Gärling et al., 2002; Stradling, 2002a, 2002b; Sloman, 2003). Yet car ownership continues to rise despite a growing policy focus on reducing car dependency and achieving modal shift. To understand how such efforts might be made more effective a detailed knowledge is needed of transport behaviours and the opportunities that facilitate or constrain them, the patterns of lifestyle obligations that drive them and the personal preferences and inclinations that underpin them.