Critical Analysis of the Trends in Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) in the Term Paper

Critical Analysis of the Trends in Vehicle naut mis runed (VMT) in the United States - Term Paper ExampleThe context factors act as Vehicle Mile Travelled (VTM) growth drivers. They include legal/political climate, family construction, social/cultural conditions and technological, economical and institutional structure of the American society. The discussion provided for the pertain of the outlined factors is one-sided. Most of factors such as decentralization of companies can take either effect. Travel requirements decreases as a psyche ages due to the decrease in the activity take aim and decrease in work related give outs. Contrary to the earlier arguments, the aging factor does not augment or trim down the VMT. This is because the decreased levels caused by the aging population argon countered by the increasing travel levels caused by the maturing young adults. However, the improved health, wealth and higher licensing rates for the elder women have curtailed the reduc tion in the rates of mobility for the older generation. The argument on the aging factor overlooked the impact of the economic growth on the VMT. This reduces the rate of VMT. Changes in the nature of work will reduce VMT because most of the employment agencies and individuals are applying the use of computer technology to enhance production. Most of the workers can work from home and avoid traveling to their work places. Most institutions of higher learning are also leaning towards introducing online lessons. This will reduce the travel requirements for most students. Decentralization of companies to rural areas can also contribute into the reduction in the VMT because companies may be located near the manpower thus, negating the travel necessity. Finished goods will be brought near retailers and consumers negating the necessity of travel over long distance to acquire them. The impact of the aging population is reasonable because the travelling magnetic dip of a person is depen dent on the activity level. The travel frequency maturations as a person matures to middle age. Children may not directly produce VMT but they increase the travel demands for their parents. The middle old adults would directly increase the VMT as they are in the peak levels of the work related travel. It is notable that the preponderance of dispersed suburban environments and more working parents have made many teenagers rely on auto-travel to and from school. The full in the fuel prices will generally spark advance to the reduction in the VMT. However, changes will be unnoticeable because most people are forced to drive to and from work regardless of the oil prices. Stabilization of workforce participation rates may have either impacts i.e. it can reduce or increase VMT. The increase of women workforce may lead to the increase in the need for travel. However, the rate may still reduce because the involvement of women does not signify an addition in the work force. They just fi ll the vacancies that would have been make full by anyone, meaning that the number of the workforce is preserved as well as their travel needs. The impact of most of the outlined factors is dependent on the changes in other factors. For instance, changes in the increase in the toll of driving may increase VMT in case of the future growth in the economy and income levels (Ewing 2007). Changes in manufacturing and distribution and trends in the cost of real property are the two opposing factors that can lead to increase in VMT. The decentralization of industries due to the enhancement of new