4. Driving licences and frequency of driving- people aged 17 or over(Tables 2, 3, D and E; Charts D, E, F and G)
4.1 The interviewer asks the randomly selected adult about the type (if any) of driving licence held. In cases where the adult has a full driving licence, the interviewer asks how often the person drives nowadays. However, prior to April 2003, such questions were asked of the Highest Income Householder (or his or her spouse) about all adult members of the household. The change in the method of obtaining the information means that the figures for 2003 onwards may not be directly comparable with those for previous years. The figures in the time series table have are all based only on the responses relating to the randomly selected adult. Because a full driving licence is only available to those who are aged 17 or over, all the statistics in this section relate only to people aged 17+.
4.2 Driving licences
4.2.1 In Table 2, each figure is the percentage of the relevant population sub-group who have a full driving licence: for example, the "25" at the start of the second row indicates that 25% of men aged 17 to 19 held a full driving licence. An asterisk appears in cases where the relevant population sub-group had fewer than 100 people in the SHS sample in 2005. Table 2 shows that, in 2005, almost two-thirds (65%) of people aged 17+ were said to have a full driving licence. There was considerable variation with age-group: the percentage with a full driving licence rose rapidly from 20% of 17-19 year olds to 79% of 40-49 year olds, then fell back to 27% of those aged 80 and over.
4.2.2 The percentage of people aged 17+ who held a full driving licence was higher for men (77%) than for women (56%). This was the case for every age group, as can be seen from the second and third rows of Table 2 and from Chart D (which shows the percentages for "five year" age-groups). The difference between the sexes remained fairly constant (5 to 10 percentage points) up to the ages of 30-39. Above that age, the difference increased, to a maximum of 39 percentage points for those aged 70-79.
4.2.3 Table 2 also shows that, in 2005, 93% of self-employed people aged 17+ held a full driving licence, compared with 81% of those who were employed full-time and 73% of those who were employed part-time. Only 41% of people aged 17+ who were said to be permanently sick or disabled held a driving licence. The percentage varied with the socio-economic classification of the random adult, which is based on his / her current or former occupation (if any), so may differ from the socio-economic classification of the Highest Income Householder, from 95% of people aged 17+ in higher managerial and professional occupations, to 57% of those in routine occupations. It also varied with annual net household income (from 44% of people aged 17+ in "up to £10,000" households to 92% of those in "over £40,000" households). More than four fifths of people aged 17+ in the least deprived 20% of areas of Scotland held a full driving licence, compared with only two-fifths in the most deprived 20% of areas. The percentage also varied with urban-rural classification: 78-80% of people aged 17+ living in SHS-classified rural areas held a full driving licence, compared with 58% of those in large urban areas.
4.2.4 Table D shows that there was not much difference in the overall percentage of people aged (17+) with a full driving licence between 2004 and 2005, and that while the percentage of males seems to have been reasonably constant since the survey started, the female percentage has increased (from 51.9% in 1999 to 56.3% in 2005). This trend is shown in Chart F. While some of the apparent year-to-year changes may be due to sampling variability, or to the change to the questionnaire mentioned in section 4.1, the increase in the percentage of women holding a full driving licence is undeniable, and follows a long-term rise shown by the National Travel Survey.
Chart E: Possession of full driving licence and frequency of driving by annual net household income
Chart F: Possession of full driving licence by sex and year
Chart G: Frequency of driving by year
4.3 Frequency of driving
4.3.1 In cases where the randomly selected adult states that he / she has a full driving licence (either car or motorcycle), the interviewer asks how often he / she drives nowadays. The results are shown in Table 3. As with the question about driving licences, the questionnaire was changed in 2003, to make "room" for questions on other topics: for 1999 to 2002, the question was asked of the Highest Income Householder (or his or her spouse) about all adult members of the household with a full driving licence (again, these years' figures in the time-series table are based on the data for the randomly selected adult). Overall, in 2005, 41% of people aged 17+ said they drove every day, and a further 12% drove at least three times per week. 6% reported driving once or twice a week, and a few people reportedly drove less frequently: 1% "at least two or three times a month"; and 1% "less than once a month". The 4% of people who said they held a full driving licence but "never drive nowadays" accounted for the remainder of the 65% who had a full driving licence.
4.3.2 The sexes differed in their frequency of driving: in 2005, half of men aged 17+ said they drove every day, compared with just over a third (34%) of women. Chart D shows that the percentage who drove every day was higher for men for every age-group, with the difference between the sexes being between 4 and 12 percentage points for those in the 17 to 49 age groups, and 23 to 30 percentage points for those aged 55 to 79. The proportion of people who drove every day rose with age, from 12% of 17-19 year olds to 57% of those aged between 40 and 49, and then declined with increasing age to 22% of people aged 70-79 and 8% of those aged 80 and over.
4.3.3 In 2005, the percentage of people aged 17+ who drove every day was highest for the self-employed (69%), people with small businesses and sole traders (68%), people in households with an annual net income of over £40,000 (70%), people living in the least deprived 20% of areas of Scotland (54%), and people living in SHS-classified rural areas (49-54%). It was lowest for those who were permanently sick or disabled (14%), people in routine occupations (38%), in households with an annual net income of up to £10,000 (19%), in the most deprived 20% of areas (25%), and in large urban areas (33%).
4.3.4 Chart E illustrates that the percentage of people with a full driving licence and the percentage of those who drove every day tends to increase with annual net household income. However, there is much less variation with annual net household income in the percentage that drive at least once a week, but not every day.
4.3.5 Table E shows that the percentage of those who drive every day has fallen from 42.5% in 2003 to 41.2% in 2005. The trend since 1999 is shown in Chart G. The figures for 2002 and before and 2003 onwards must be compared with caution, because of the change in the questionnaire in 2003, which means that individuals now report their frequency of driving themselves, rather than the Highest Income Householder (or his or her spouse) giving his or her view of the frequency of driving for all adults in the household. So some of the apparent change between 1999 and 2005 may be due to a combination of sampling variability, and the change in the questionnaire.