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5 Personal travel (e.g. driving, walking and cycling; travel to work and school)
Possession of driving licences, and frequency of driving
5.1 68 per cent of people aged 17 or over had a full driving licence in 2007: 78 per cent of men and 60 per cent of women. Since 1999, the proportion of men who have a driving licence has remained steady at almost three-quarters, whereas the percentage of women aged 17+ who have a full driving licence has increased eight percentage points since 1999. As a sample survey, the SHS's results are subject sampling variability.
5.2 In 2007, 45 per cent of people aged 17+ said that they drove every day. The percentages who said that they drove at least 3 times a week (but not every day) rose from 8 per cent in 1999 to 10 per cent in 2007.
Frequency of walking and cycling
5.3 Respondents are asked on how many of the previous seven days they walked more than a quarter of a mile (a) in order to go somewhere (i.e. used walking as a means of transport), and (b) for pleasure or to keep fit, including walking a dog. In 2007, 51 per cent of individuals reported walking to go somewhere on at least one of the previous seven days. This figure has fluctuated from year to year, presumably due to sampling variability. However, the percentage who said that they had walked for pleasure or to keep fit had increased 7 percentage points since 1999.
5.4 Respondents are asked similar questions about cycling. In 2007, about 3 per cent said that they had cycled as a means of transport, and around 4 per cent said that they had cycled for pleasure or to keep fit. These percentages are similar to those found in 1999.
Travel to work and travel to school
5.5 In 2007, about two-thirds of commuters said that they travelled to work by car or van (63 per cent as a driver and 6 per cent as a passenger), 12 per cent walked, 12 per cent went by bus, 4 per cent took a train and 2 per cent cycled. While there have been year-to-year fluctuations in the SHS's results, the percentage driving to work has risen 8 percentage points and the percentage getting a lift has fallen 6 percentage points.
5.6 The Labour Force Survey ( LFS) shows that the percentage of people travelling to work by car has tended to be slightly lower in Scotland than in Great Britain as a whole, and the percentage using public transport has tended to be slightly higher in Scotland than in Great Britain. According to the LFS, in Autumn 2007, 69 per cent of people travelling to work in Scotland and Great Britain did so by car and 16 per cent used public transport. The year-to-year fluctuations, and any differences from the results of the SHS, are likely to be due to sampling variability.
5.7 Around 53 per cent of pupils walked to school in 2007, 21 per cent went by bus, 22 per cent by car, 1 per cent cycled, and 1 per cent went by rail. While there have been year-to-year fluctuations in the results, it appears that, since the SHS started in 1999, the percentage going by car has risen from around 18 per cent.
Figure 10: Freight lifted: road and coastwise shipping
Figure 11: Freight lifted: coastwise shipping, pipelines, inland waterway, rail
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