Based on an extensive literature study and an explorative preliminary study, three categories of motives for car use are distinguished: instrumental, social and affective. Instrumental motives refer to the convenience or inconvenience of car use, such as its speed, flexibility, safety, and environmental problems resulting from car use. Social motives refer to the fact that people can express themselves and their social position by using a car, and to social norms. Affect refers to various emotions that are evoked by using a car, i.e., car use may potentially alter people's mood, and people might anticipate these (positive) feelings while making travel mode choices. A survey study was conducted to examine whether these three categories of motives were correlated to car use for commuting during rush hours. Results revealed all three motive categories were significantly correlated with the proportion of car trips. Car use could especially be explained by social and affective motives. Respondents that always commute by car and male drivers evaluate the social and affective motives more favourably compared to respondents that also use other modes of transport and female drivers. For the covering abstract see ITRD E113725 (C 22328 CD-ROM).
Samenvatting