Estimated percentage of car trips by purpose and gender of drivers in 2005

The bar chart illustrates the distribution of car trips undertaken by male and female drivers across eight different categories in 2005. Overall, it is clear that commuting to work accounted for the highest proportion of car journeys for both genders, significantly outstripping all other purposes. While men were more likely to drive for work and recreation, women recorded higher percentages for shopping, errands, and educational courses.

Work-related travel was the primary purpose for both groups, with men at 52% and women at 39%. In contrast, shopping trips were more frequent among women, who accounted for 17% of their total trips compared to 10% for men. Similarly, women made more trips for courses (12%), banking (9%), errands (10%), and visiting friends (8%), whereas men’s figures for these categories were notably lower, ranging between 3% and 8%.

Conversely, men were more inclined to use cars for recreation, with 11% of their trips dedicated to this purpose, compared to only 3% for women. Visiting town also showed a disparity, with men at 9% and women at 2%. Overall, the data highlights distinct gender-based preferences in car travel purposes during the year 2005.