More people than ever were driving to work by car in 1996, latest census figures for that year show. Forecasts indicate that car usage in general will continue to increase into the next millennium.
Driving to work by car was the principal means of travel for Irish workers in 1996. Just over 46 per cent of workers drove to their workplace that year, up from 39 per cent five years previously.
The 1996 Census by the Central Statistics Office on travel to work, school and college, issued yesterday, comments that when account is taken of those who travelled to work as car passengers or as van or lorry drivers, almost 60 per cent of workers were private vehicle users in 1996.
CSO figures quoted this week in a new national roads study by the National Roads Authority forecast even greater car use over the next few years.
According to the study, it was anticipated that growth in overall car usage would be associated with growth in wealth which was likely to be greatest in the principal urban areas.
This analysis suggested that traffic could be expected to continue to grow at a faster rate on national roads linking the main urban centres.
Car ownership was also expected to rise. The study states that in 1993, car ownership stood at 40.3 per 100 adults or 23.9 cars per 100 people. The CSO forecasted 80 cars per 100 adults or 56 cars per 100 people by 2016 which would represent saturation point in traffic terms.
Yesterday's census figures for 1996 also show an increase in the number of children who were taken to school by car. In 1981, fewer than 20 per cent of primary school children were driven to school but in 1996 this had risen to 35.8 per cent.
Just over 30 per cent of primary school children living in rural areas went to school by bus, compared with fewer than 14 per cent of children in urban areas.