Why do People Drive to Work?

Image via WikipediaHow and why do people commute by car? A mixed-methods investigation ( Abstract, A Goodman, J Panter, C Guell, D Ogilvie, J Epidemiol Community Health, Sep. 14, 2011)

Today’s review is interesting because it looks at why people chose to drive a car to work. The results indicate that the decision is strongly influenced by the availability of free parking at the work place. Without that, the choice turns to walking and cycling as the alternative or as an additional part of the commute by car. Free parking then becomes a driving factor (sorry) for the health of employees who commute by car and thus becomes an added cost for the company providing the parking.

Key Quotes:

“To investigate how and why people commute by car…Reducing car use and promoting physically active travel would be expected to decrease air pollution, traffic crashes and diseases associated with sedentary lifestyles”

“Regular car commuting was independently associated with female gender, longer commuting distance, having a driving licence, more household cars and availability of workplace parking”

“Car access was also valued by many non-regular car commuters in letting them overcome short-term challenges such as illness”

“car commuting also introduced constraints, for example pushing drivers with flexible working hours to travel earlier (40% of drivers started work by 8:30 vs 20% of walkers and cyclists)”

“Car commuters were much more likely to incorporate some walking or cycling into their journey if their workplace restricted parking or charged for it, suggesting potential health benefits”

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