Taking the moral high ground? The reduction of private car usage through a sense of obligation

This study investigates the extent to which a sense of moral pressure to reduce car usage is influenced by household decisions about vehicle use. There is a higher probability of feeling moral pressure among those driving more, those driving larger vehicles and those using more fuel efficient vehicles. This moral pressure is found to decrease for households with higher income and households further away from a city centre. Results suggest there is room to shape transport policies to focus on those households that feel less moral pressure in reducing use of personal automotive vehicles.