Active Travel in numbers
We are currently living in a Scotland where 69% of people travel to work by car; 11.8% walk; 1.6% cycle and 13.5% take public transport.
Our cities and towns are increasingly choked by traffic, and at the same time, people struggle with overweight, obesity, lack of physical activity, social isolation and exclusion. – Preventing Overweight & Obesity in Scotland.
We do not want these trends to continue into the future.
Travel Behaviour
- In Scotland, half of all journeys are 3km (1.9 miles) or less and 40% of all journeys made in Scotland are less than 2km (1.2 miles). Most of these journeys (50%) are driven. - Scottish Household Survey Travel Diary 2007-2008.
- Over half of all driver journeys are less than 5km (3 miles) of which 28% are less than 2km. – Ibid.
- Waking as a mode of travel reduced from 19.5% in 1999 to 13.6% in 2006, while driver journeys increased from 49.4% to 54.5% over the same period. - Ibid.
- 71% of people travel to work by car, compared with only 12% walking and 2% cycling. – Ibid.
- Surveys have shown that children want to cycle to school yet only 2.8% currently do. – Sustrans (2010) Hands-Up-Survey.
- The recent Cycling Action Plan for Scotland consultation launched by the Scottish Government showed that 88% of respondents would like to cycle more often. – Scottish Government (2009) Cycling Action Plan for Scotland. Consultation Draft.
Health and Well-Being
- In 2008, 68.5% of men and 61.8% of women were overweight (including obese). This represents an increase from 1995 (57% and 47% respectively). -Scottish Health Survey, 2009, Scottish Government
- In 2009 63% of adults and nearly 30% of children in Scotland failed to meet the minimum recommendations for physical activity. – Ibid
- The total cost to Scottish society of obesity in 2007/8 was in excess of £457 million. By 2030 the total cost to Scottish society is expected to range from £0.9 billion to £3 billion. – Preventing Overweight & Obesity in Scotland.
- It is predicted that 60% of us will be clinically obese by 2050. Car dependence and sedentary lifestyles are strongly implicated in these unfortunate statistics. - Foresight Report.
Social and Environmental Justice and Equality
- Car-dominated transport systems reduce access to jobs, shops and services for people without a car (50% of the lowest income households). – Social Exclusion Unit (2003) Making the Connections.
- Children in most socio-economically deprived areas are five times more likely to be hit by a car than their most affluent counterparts. – Ibid.
Environment
- After power generation, road transport is the second largest single source ofCO2 in Scotland and comprises approximately 23.5% of the ScottishCO2 total. 62% of road traffic emissions are from cars. National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory 2009.
- CO2 emissions from road traffic in Scotland increased by 11.5 % between 1990 and 2007 – this parallels an increase in road traffic kilometres over the same period. Scottish Transport Statistics 28, 2009.