More time online appears to translate into less time behind the wheel, finds new study.
While the number of cars on U.S. highways continues to grow, with congestion worsening in most metropolitan areas, Americans seem to be cutting back or combining daily errands, reducing the time they spend behind the wheel.
On average, American motorists spent about 10% less time in their cars to handle daily activities than they did a decade ago, according to a new study by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, or UMTRI.
UMTRI researcher Michael Sivak, in one of a series of reports that examines recent motorization trends in the U.S., said that the average time spent traveling per day for all activities dropped from 1.23 hours in 2004 to 1.11 hours in 2014.
In an earlier report, Sivak had observed that 2004 was the peak year in terms of how many miles people had driven, with the numbers falling ever since.
The new study shows that the amount of time Americans spend behind the wheel has also dropped over the last decade. Sivak took a look at total travel time for persons 15 and older, using all modes of travel—not just driving a vehicle. The data came from the American Time Use Survey, a representative nationwide study.
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Overall, Americans spend less time driving for activities such as dining out – eating and drinking – where stiffer penalities for drunk driving have had a significant impact. They’ve also cut back on shopping or while purchasing goods and services , a trend that appears to reflect the growing role of the Internet.
The amount of travel time for caring for and helping non-household members has gone down, as well. And so has driving time involved in work, education and leisure and sports activities, according to the UMTRI study. It suggests the so-called cocooning trend has also had an impact.
Among all the activities that were tallied, personal care was the only one that registered an increase in time spent traveling, Sivak pointed out.
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There is a footnote, however, a deeper dive into the numbers finds that fewer people actually traveled, day to day. That offset the fact that when someone did actually get in the car they were likely to spend a little bit longer on the road in 2014 compared to a decade ago.
The findings may indicate that as the American population ages on the one end, social media, online shopping and other virtual activities replace car-oriented socializing at the other end of age spectrum, reducing the number of trips overall.
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