More from BuilderScrap.com on our habits.  To all those contractors and white van men. This questionnaire includes a number of questions which use the stages of change response scale to assess how willing people were to alter the way they used their cars (including cutting down on the amount they drove). The results from these questions are shown in Table 30.

Of the five behaviours shown in Table 30, the majority of drivers reported they were already driving in a fuel efficient way and intended to keep this up (78% of all drivers were classified at the maintenance stage). Of the remaining respondents these were split between those unaware of driving in a fuel efficient way (6%); those who had rejected doing this (4%); those thinking about it (6%); and those who had tried it but relapsed (4%).
Nearly two-thirds (62%) of all drivers said they had switched to walking or cycling instead of driving for short, regular journeys and intended to keep this up (the maintenance stage), although nearly one in five (18%) had rejected the idea of switching to walking or cycling (the second largest group for this behaviour). It should be noted that those who said they had already switched mode of transport need not have switched all of their short regular journeys. For example, a respondent who had switched to walking to instead of driving to work might still be making short regular trips by car for other purposes such as shopping.

In comparison, about a quarter (26%) of drivers said they had switched to public transport instead of driving for regular journeys (the maintenance stage), although nearly half (47%) had rejected this behaviour. One in ten (10%) drivers were at the pre-contemplation stage indicating that they “hadn’t really given the idea any thought” with a similar number either contemplating this switch (6%) or having made the switch only to relapse into using their car again (5%).

Just 1% of drivers had switched to and maintained use of an electric / hybrid / LPG car with the same proportion having switched at some point in the past and relapsed. Just over half (53%) said they had rejected the idea of switching and a quarter (26%) were at the pre-contemplation stage, having never really thought about doing this. However, 16% of drivers claimed to be contemplating making this switch.

The majority of respondents (79%) lived in a household with a car, with 43% having one car, 28% two cars, and 8% three or more cars. These findings are consistent with previous research carried out by the Energy Saving Trust in February 2008 (tracker survey) and by the Defra survey in 2007. Of those who lived in a household with a car, 83% said they were a driver.

Drivers were asked a series of follow-up questions about how much they drove personally and the type of car they normally used. Responses to these questions are summarised in Table 29 compared with the equivalent findings from the 2008 Energy Saving Trust tracker survey.

A little more than a third (37%) of drivers drove less than 5,000 miles per year, while slightly fewer than one quarter (22%) said they drove 5,000 – 7,999 miles. Around one in five (18%) said they drove 8,000 – 10,999 miles per year with a similar proportion (21%) saying they drove 11,000 miles or more. There have been changes in the distances people report driving per year – with an increase in those driving less than 5,000 miles from 25% in February 2008 to 37% in 2009 and a decrease in those driving between 11,000 and 15,999 miles per year, from 15% in 2009 to 10% in 2009.

Respondents who drove were asked what size engine the car they drove the majority of the time had. One half (50%) normally drove a car with a 1.5 – 2.0 litre engine. Just over one third (37%) of drivers normally drove a car with an engine of less than 1.5 litres and a smaller proportion (11%) said they normally drove a car with an engine of more than 2.0 litres. These data are broadly consistent with figures from 2008.

The majority (70%) of drivers drove a car with a petrol engine the majority of the time, with just over a quarter (29%) driving a car with a diesel engine. A very small proportion of drivers (1%) said they normally drove a car with a LPG, hybrid, electric or other type of engine. These data are consistent with figures from 2008.