Motor vehicles, traffic and driving

Driving licences

In 2022, 73% of people aged 17 and over held a full driving licence, a modest increase from 71% in 2019. [Table 1]

Most age categories showed no significant change in the percentage of people holding a full driving licence, however the percentage increased between 2019 and 2022 for those aged 30 to 39, 60 to 69 and 80 and over. [Table 1]

Car and van access

75% of households had access to one or more cars or vans for private use. 40% of households had access to two or more. [Table 18b, Table SUM1] 

Car access increased with household income, as did the number of cars available per household: 46% of households with an annual income up to £10,000 had access to one or more cars, compared to 96% of households with an annual income of more than £50,000. [Table 18b and Figure 16] 

Overall the percentage of households with access to one or more car has increased between 2019 and 2022 (from 72% to 75%). When looking at different household income groups, there has been an increase for households with an annual income up to £10,000 (from 40% to 46%), but the percentage is very similar to 2019 for all other household income groups.

Figure 16: Household access to cars or vans by selected household income bands, 2022, as described in the text above
Figure 16: Household access to cars or vans by selected household income bands, 2022

Households in rural areas were more likely to have access to a car than those in urban areas. Car access in accessible rural households was 89%, compared to 64% in large urban areas, where more public transport is available. [Table 18b and Figure 17]

Figure 17: Household access to one or more cars by urban-rural classification, 2022, as described in the text above
Figure 17: Household access to one or more cars by urban-rural classification, 2022

Frequency of driving

66% of people drove at least once a week in 2022, with 34% driving every day. [Tables 20 & SUM1]

The percentage of people driving at least once a week increased slightly between 2019 and 2022 (from 64% to 66%), however the percentage of people driving every day decreased (from 43% to 34%).

Frequency of driving was higher in rural areas than in urban areas, and increased with income. [Table 20]

Fuel spend and cost of parking

The average (mean) amount which an adult driver spent on vehicle fuel ‘in the last month’ was £146. [Table 2a]

The average (mean) spent by an adult on parking (including non-drivers) was £0.80 per week. For those who drove, the figure was £1.20. [Table 52]

Electric vehicles

4.1% of driving licence holders owned an electric car or van in 2022. This is up from 1.6% in 2019 and 0.3% in 2016. [Table 49 and Figure 18]

Figure 18: Percentage of driving licence holders owning an electric vehicle, 2016-2022, as described in the text above
Figure 18: Percentage of driving licence holders owning an electric vehicle, 2016-2022

Electric cars being environmentally friendly was the most common reason respondents gave for having bought, or why they would consider buying, a plug-in electric car or van (72% of respondents) [Table 50].

When asked their reasons for not considering buying a plug-in electric car or van the most common answer given was the cost of vehicle purchase (52%), followed by availability or convenience of charging points (41%) and the battery (i.e. the distance travelled on charge) (39%) [Table 51].

In 2022, there was an increase in respondents giving the costs surrounding electric vehicles as a reason for not considering buying an electric car/van. The proportion of respondents giving the cost of vehicle purchase as a reason not to consider buying increased from 36% in 2019 to 52%, and the proportion of respondents highlighting running costs increased from 7% to 13% [Table 51].

The proportion of respondents giving battery (i.e. the distance travelled on charge) as a reason not to consider buying an electric car/van dropped from 46% in 2019 to 39% in 2022 [Table 51].