Queens of the road

by DARREN BEHAR, Daily Mail

For years they were mocked for their driving skills. But today, women are taking over Britain's roads.

Three in five females now own a car, according to official figures released yesterday.

The number of women with a driving licence has also risen by one fifth in the last decade.

Men have traditionally dominated the world of motoring. But the experts predict the majority of Britain's 30million motorists will soon be women.

With the number of male drivers rising

little in comparison, women could end up getting the blame for the ever-increasing threat of gridlock.

The rise in family wealth has allowed many households to run two cars. The growth of the female workforce has also put more women behind the wheel.

Richard Freedman, policy manager at the AA, explained: 'As society gets more wealthy and more women work or live on their own for longer, the number of females owning or having access to a car has grown.

'Many women simply could no longer manage without one. The majority of drivers will soon be female.'

The school run and trips to the shops account for many of the car journeys made by women.

The number of primary school children walking to school has fallen to such an extent that almost 40 per cent are now driven to school.

Women are growing more fearful of taking public transport or allowing their children to take the bus or train to school.

The Department of Transport's national travel survey confirmed that Britons are more reliant on

the car than ever. Four-fifths of all personal travel mileage is done by car, with a record number of more than seven in ten households having access to a vehicle.

One household in four has access to two or more cars.

Britons are travelling more miles by car than ever before, with the average distance driven rising 11 per cent in the 1990s.

The survey also revealed that 61 per cent of travelling time is spent in a car, which is the dominant mode of transport for all trips of more than one mile.

Those in the South-East and East of the country own the most cars while the people of London and the North-East own the fewest.

An alarming 60 per cent of cars on the road contain a single occupant, a figure which jumps to 84 per cent for commuting and business travel.

There has been a fall in demand for slower modes of transport such as buses.

But despite a series of fatal accidents, the popularity of rail travel is once again growing rapidly.

The average person walks just 189 miles a year - less than 3 per cent of personal mileage - compared with 4 per cent ten years ago.

The survey, used to forecast traffic levels and monitor accident rates, is based on the experiences of more than 10,000 families from 1988 to last year.

The latest figures cover the period 1999 to 2001.

The average Briton travels 6,815 miles a year within Great Britain a year - the highest figure yet recorded - and makes fewer but longer journeys than ten years ago.

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