Australia has always been a strongly motorised country
and internationally has been ranked third in car ownership levels per capita since the 1950's. An average of 71% of
people above 15 years of age use a car as either a driver or passenger every day (ABS 1996c) and this rises to 80%
of both males and females in the 25 to 55 years age group (Roads in the Community, 1997). And most of the
increased travel by cars during the last two decades has been due to an increase in car ownership. Car ownership has
closely followed increases in GDP/capita over the full period from 1971 to 1995(Roads in the Community, 1997).
Australia’s population has grown by three million in the past decade (State of Australian Cities 2011)