Only 12% of people choose sustainable mobility to get around the city. Men, 15%, and women, 10%. This is one of the main conclusions of the study presented by the chain of Midas workshops, #EllasConducenPorLaCiudad, and which is part of the #EllasConducen initiative, whose godmother is the motorcycle racer Ana Carrasco.
By cities, the women of Zaragoza are the ones who most use sustainable means of getting around, 16%, followed by those of Valencia (13%), Bilbao (12%), Malaga (6%), Barcelona (8%) and, finally, Madrid (10%).
Better by car
Among women who drive, their favourite sustainable options are the hybrid or electric car (5%), the bicycle (4%), the scooter (2%) and the electric motorcycle (0.2%).
In addition, 52% of the women surveyed admit that they would change their usual mode of transport for a more sustainable one, compared to 61% of men. 42% of the two groups, men and women, prefer a hybrid or electric car. This percentage rises to 90% among women who use combustion vehicles as their usual means of transport. They admit that they would change vehicles, but they do not do so because they believe it would be more expensive (68%) or because they consider that the city in which they live is not prepared for this type of vehicle (32%).
Of the women who already use a sustainable vehicle, 47% admit that they would not change it, while 45% say they do so out of environmental awareness. In men, that percentage is 36%.
Fight pollution
56% of women consider that their cities are not taking sufficient measures to reduce pollution. By cities, Palma de Mallorca is the most critical (73%), followed by Madrid (62%) and Alicante (60%).
Valencians (68%), Zaragoza (48%) and Malaga (40%) are those who believe that measures are being taken to combat pollution. It is precisely in these three cities where more sustainable vehicles circulate. In Madrid (9%), Bilbao (9%) and Seville (8%) is the least.
Fear of bicycles and scooters
In general, women are more reluctant to use bicycles and scooters. In fact, there are differences by sex: 10% of men compared to 5% of women admit to using these means of transport on a regular basis. The cities with the greatest use of bicycles by them are, in this order, Valencia, Zaragoza and Seville.
In addition, 65% of the women surveyed admit that they do not use a bicycle or scooter and the reasons are that other drivers put them in danger (61%) or are not sufficiently visible to other drivers (47%).
Changes in mobility
The pandemic has caused changes in the way we move in cities. According to the study, 43% of those surveyed admit that they avoid public transport; 28% acknowledge that they use the private vehicle more, and 28% indicate that they only go to places where they can walk.
Murcianas (50%), Sevillanas (32%) and Madrid (31%) are the ones that have increased the use of private vehicles the most. In Alicante, 60% of the women surveyed admit that they only go to places where they can walk, while Madrid women are the ones who have chosen the most to use the taxi (11%).
More respectful of the rules
María José Aparicio, deputy director of Training and Road Education of the General Directorate of Traffic, defended the “just” empowerment of women also when they drive because accident data show that “we are good drivers.”
As she explained, in Spain, there are 27 million registered drivers, 42% are women. However, in 2019, of the 1,139 deceased drivers, 90% were men.
“Our behaviour is more respectful of the norm, something that is not only observed in the commission of infractions,” she added. In this sense, she recalled the report on traffic accident victims produced annually by the Institute of Toxicology and Forensic Sciences, according to which 45.5% of the deceased drivers analysed had the presence of drugs of abuse or psychotropic drugs: only 5% were women.
Similar figures are also recorded in people who lose their driving licence due to loss of points (they must take awareness and re-education courses) or convictions for crimes against road safety. “Again, the presence of women is minimal,” said Aparicio.
#EllasConducen
Midas has resumed this initiative after a few months of forced stoppage due to the pandemic. The objective of #EllasConducen is to end the clichés that surround women when it comes to driving. For this reason, they have chosen the motorcycle racer Ana Carrasco as the image of the campaign. Carrasco was the first woman to win a Supersport 300 grand prize.
In addition, the campaign also includes a social purpose since it includes a collaboration with the NGO Ayuda en Acción. Participating in the presentation of this study were Patricia Suárez, Midas Marketing Director; María José Aparicio, deputy director of Training and Road Education of the General Directorate of Traffic; Marta Marañón, representative of Ayuda en Acción, and the racer Ana Carrasco.
