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4. Driving licences and frequency of driving: people aged 17 or over
4.1 Because a full driving licence is only available to those who are aged 17 or over, all the statistics in this section relate only to people aged 17+.
4.2 Driving licences
4.2.1 The interviewer asks the randomly selected adult about the type (if any) of driving licence held. Table 2 shows the results. Each figure is the percentage of the relevant population sub-group who have a full driving licence: for example, the "32" at the start of the second row indicates that 32% of men aged 17 to 19 held a full driving licence. An asterisk appears in cases where the relevant population sub-group had fewer than 100 people in the sample in 2006. Table 2 shows that, in 2006, almost two-thirds (66%) of people aged 17+ were said to have a full driving licence. There was considerable variation with age: the percentage with a full driving licence rose rapidly from 30% of 17-19 year olds to 79% of 40-49 year olds, then fell back to 28% of those aged 80+.
4.2.2 The percentage of people aged 17+ who held a full driving licence was higher for men (77%) than for women (58%). This was the case for every age group, as can be seen from the second and third rows of Table 2 and from Chart D (which shows the percentages for "five year" age-groups). The difference between the sexes was quite small for the under-30s, larger for those in their 30s and 40s, and widened markedly for people aged 50+.
4.2.3 Table 2 also shows that 94% of self-employed people aged 17+ held a full driving licence, as did 93% of people aged 17+ in higher managerial and professional occupations (on the basis of the socio-economic classification of the random adult, which uses his/her current/former occupation, and so may differ from the classification of the Highest Income Householder). Licence holding varied with annual net household income (from 44% of people aged 17+ in "up to £10,000" households to 92% in "over £40,000" households). Only two-fifths of people aged 17+ in the most deprived 20% of areas of Scotland held a full driving licence. 80-81% of residents aged 17+ in rural areas held a full driving licence, compared with 58% in large urban areas.
4.2.4 Table D and Chart F show that the percentage of men (aged 17+) with a full driving licence has fluctuated in the range 75% to 77% throughout the period since the survey started, whereas the figure for women increased from 51.9% in 1999 to 57.9% in 2006. As each of these figures has "95% confidence limits" of about +/- 1.3 percentage-points, the rise is much larger than could be due to sampling variability alone. However, some of the apparent year-to-year changes may be due to sampling variability, or to a change to the questionnaire made in April 2003 (which is described in a footnote to the tables).
4.3 Frequency of driving nowadays
4.3.1 When the randomly selected adult says that he/she has a full driving licence (car or motor-cycle), the interviewer asks how often he/she drives nowadays. The results are shown in Table 3. Overall, in 2006, 40% of people aged 17+ said they drove every day, and a further 12% drove at least three times per week. 7% reported driving once or twice a week, a few people reportedly drove less frequently, and 4% said they held a full driving licence but "never drive nowadays".
4.3.2 The sexes differed in their frequency of driving: 48% of men aged 17+ said they drove every day, compared with 34% of women. Chart D shows that the percentage who drove every day was higher for men of almost every age, with the difference between the sexes being wider for those aged 50+. The proportion who drove every day rose with age, from 16% of 17-19 year olds to 55% of those aged between 40 and 49, and then declined with increasing age to 9% of those aged 80+.
4.3.3 The percentage of people aged 17+ who drove every day was highest for the self-employed (64%), people with small businesses and sole traders (65%), those in households with an annual net income of over £40,000 (67%), residents of the least deprived 40% of areas of Scotland (50-52%), and people living in rural areas (50-53%). It was lowest for those who were permanently sick or disabled (13%), people in semi-routine occupations (37%), in households with an annual net income of up to £10,000 (18%), in the most deprived 20% of areas (24%), and in large urban areas (32%).
4.3.4 Chart E illustrates how the percentage of people with a full driving licence and the percentage who drove every day increase with annual net household income. However, there is much less variation with household income in the percentage that drive at least once a week, but not every day.
4.3.5 Table E shows that the percentage of those who drive every day did not change much between 1999 and 2002, then fell from 42.5% in 2003 to 40.4% in 2006. As each of these figures has "95% confidence limits" of about +/- 1.0 percentage-points, the drop is slightly larger than might be thought due to sampling variability alone. The trend since 1999 is shown in Chart G. Some of the apparent year-to-year changes may well be due to a combination of sampling variability, and a change in the questionnaire in April 2003 (described in a footnote to the table).
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