How much unnecessary driving goes on in the real world?

[taterguy]

Let's not judge each other or accuse.

Let's just guesstimate about how many of the car trips that people take in real world are trips that could be just as easily done using some other method of transportation.

I'm gonna say at least 40%.

What's your guess?

[opihimoimoi]

1. More like 50 to 60%

[LeftyMom]

2. Unnecessary with current infrastructure? Likely not many.

Most places aren't set up to be safely navigable any other way.

[taterguy]

6. Damnit I was trying not to make this an accusatory thread

There are plenty of places that it's safe to use something other than a car on the streets but people choose not to for whatever reason.

Of course I only base that on personal experience, the fact that I'm uninjured despite logging about 40,000 miles on streets that have no special amenities for bicycles.

[LeftyMom]

14. Yeah, and I've got a nasty bit of scarred road rash to show that cars don't look for bikes.

I *almost* had LeftyKid in the trailer that day, and I'm damned glad I didn't.

/slightly bitter about the whole thing

[taterguy]

18. You can't make generalizations based on personal experience

Oh wait, I just did.

Nevermind.

[madokie]

3. My license has been expired so long that I don't even miss it anymore

probably haven't driven 200 miles in the last two years.

[Rosemary2205]

15. You are fortunate indeed

to live where there is adequate mass transit to everyplace one might need or want to go in life. In my town all the places close enough to catch a bus or a train are either out of my price range to live there or are so crime ridden it would be foolish to risk my safety. Add to the fact the wheelchair buses are very rare indeed.

[MADem]

4. It depends. I don't drive unnecessarily. I can only speak for myself.

I combine trips, give rides to people, shop local, and unless I am going on a highway trip of many hundreds of miles (which I do, periodically)or am driving people to vote, my local driving is probably less than twenty miles a MONTH. Often closer to ten.

[1monster]

5. None of my driving is unnecessary. I used to take a drive around the scenic

neighborhood in which I live once in a while and that was unnecessary. But I've cut that out. Every bit of driving I do is necessary.

[rzemanfl]

7. People I work with take their cars to go through the drive thru at a

restaraunt that is less than 100 yards away by foot, even thought the weather here is nearly always nice.

[taterguy]

9. Obviously those 100 yards are quite treacherous on foot

It's a veritable no-man's land.

Right?

[rzemanfl]

11. I walk it safely from time to time, but then I am sixty years old with

a bad knee so who am I to say?

[Throd]

8. 5% of my driving is unnecessary

Every now and then I drive up Salmon Falls road just to clear my mind

[taterguy]

13. Clearing your mind is a necessity

And unfortunately most of the great spots for that require a car. This spot is about 80 miles from my house. There sure as hell aren't trains that stop there (which is ironic since it's a converted rail road track). I drive up there a couple times a year, sometimes just by myself and I don't feel that guilty about it. But my OP isn't about which trips are necessary. It's about whether or not cars are required for all the trips we take.

[EstimatedProphet]

10. About 1/10th of 1%

[Lilith Velkor]

12. I guess we'll find out when gas hits $10 a gallon

Driving habits will probably not change until around then.

[taterguy]

21. Of course the cheaper the trip, the less necessary it is

My work commute is 5 miles round trip. Even at 10 bucks a gallon the money I'd save by not driving on a given day is negligible, less than a cup of coffee.

Cost never factors in to how I decide how to get to work. It's based on what I feel like and what the weather is.

I suspect rising gas prices might effect where people decide to go but I'm not sure how much of an impact it will have on what method they choose to get there.

[Lilith Velkor]

22. The real estate crash will have an effect as well

The counties around DC have been mostly unaffordable for over a decade. We got people commuting from West Bygawd Virginia. That may change soon.

[porphyrian]

16. To answer that question, let me ask another...

How long do you drive around each parking lot looking for a space that's close?

[taterguy]

17. When I'm driving I like spaces that are far away

I like to have a nice relaxing cigarette on my way in and out of wherever I'm going.

But that's just me. :)

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

19. That's rare, I think

Most people I see at the mall or the grocery will go around and around to try to save maybe 20 or 30 feet of walking by finding a space near the entrance. Then they will go to the gym to do 20 minutes of treadmill or put on their walking shoes and walk a mile around the neighborhood. It doesn't make much sense.

[porphyrian]

20. I started parking in the first space I came to.

I realized how ridiculous it was to spend fifteen minutes driving around to avoid one minute of walking, especially with a basically sedentary lifestyle. Then, I moved to Chicago for a couple of years, where I walked or rode public transportation everywhere.