A sample study of Denver-area drivers indicates almost all are aware of air-quality advisories and voluntary driving restrictions during high-pollution days in the fall and winter, but the advisories have no significant effect on commuters transportation habits.

University of Colorado at Boulder geography department Assistant Professor Peter Blanken and undergraduates Jennifer Dillon and Genevieve Wismann mailed a 14-question, anonymous survey to 1,000 randomly selected vehicle owners regarding their driving habits and how they responded to high-pollution advisories. Five hundred surveys were mailed to Westminster residents and 500 were sent to Boulder residents.

The CU-Boulder research team had hypothesized the air quality advisories had no effect on voluntary driving restrictions due to lack of awareness and understanding, a lack of alternative means of travel or lack of concern. But 94 percent of the 281 people that completed and returned the surveys said they were aware of what the high-pollution advisories meant and 93 percent heard the posting via the media at least once a day prior to work.

"We were somewhat surprised to find that people were fully aware of the air pollution advisories, were hearing them through the media at appropriate times and understanding them," said Blanken, also a faculty member in CU-Boulders Environmental Studies Program. "But the results also indicate that cars are very dear to our culture. Clearly the message is getting out, but it is not affecting behavior."

Of the respondents, 79 percent said they regularly commuted to work and 5 percent said they sometimes commuted. Seventy-five percent of commuters lived within 10 miles of their work, and three-quarters of those people commuted alone in their cars. Although 32 percent of commuters in the study lived within 2.5 miles of their jobs, only 11 percent walked or bicycled to work, according to the survey.

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Contact: Peter Blanken
blanken@spot.colorado.edu
303-492-5887
University of Colorado at Boulder
5-Nov-2000