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Description
The present longitudinal study investigated participants’ car use behavior for a week, by using objective mobility data collected with Google Location through participants’ smartphones. 48 residents of a large Romanian town provided their mobility data, together with their answers on a questionnaire. Several psychological, structural and contextual predictors of car use were investigated in a multilevel model with two levels. Present findings indicate that instrumental motivations such as distance needed to travel, the need to pick-up/drop-off children to/from school and the need to carry heavy objects have the largest influence on car use behavior. Additionally, access to alternative transport infrastructure and the strength of people’s car use habits also significantly influence the number of kilometers travelled by car. Psychological variables such as those described by the theory of planned behavior or norm activation model, together with weather variables such as wind speed, temperature and precipitations, did not directly influence car use behavior. Results contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of car use behavior and are relevant for policymakers and city planners in their attempts to shape a sustainable urban environment that is adapted to one of the greatest challenges of the present.
