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Koreans rely more on private cars more than people in other countries, a study reveals. The Korea Transportation Safety Authority on Tuesday said its research showed Koreans drove an average of 45.9 km per day in 2006, slightly more than 2005 when the figure was 44.3 km. Since 1985, when the figures were first recorded and people drove an average of 68.1 km per day, until 2005, the average driving distance of private cars had been decreasing. Combined with cars for business purposes, the average driving distance is 57.3 km per day.
Statistics from the major European countries, by contrast, show that people there drove less. According to a report by the Korea Transport Institute citing statistics from a Japanese transport magazine Kotsukogaku (Traffic Engineering), Brits and Italians drove an average of 44 and 40 km per day. The French and Germans drove 37 and 35 km respectively, while Japan was at the bottom of the list with 27 km and the U.S. topped the chart with 52 km.
Dr. Kim Tae-shik of the Korea Transport Institute said Koreans have a habit of driving their cars even very short distances. ¡°Inconvenient public transport is also part of the reason why people resort to private cars easily, so more investment is needed to improve public transport,¡± Kim said.
¡°There is no point of driving a private car in Tokyo because it is virtually impossible to find a place to park in downtown Tokyo,¡± said Kim Ju-hee, a researcher at the Korea Transportation Safety Authority. Kim added Japan boasts excellent public transport. In fact, the number of private cars in Japan amounts to 57 million, five times more than Korea¡¯s 11 million.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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