An Analysis of Car Ownership in Latin American Cities: a Perspective for Future Research

Abstract

Car dependence must be avoided to achieve sustainable transportation; the diversity of studies available give a better perspective of the situation and how to tackle it. The reasons behind the increasing car use are still unknown in some regions such as Latin America. The gaps in the current literature are not just for location; some topics and methods are also unnecessarily predominant in the related studies. This research does a review of current literature for mobility in Latin America region with a special focus on car dependence. The aim is to detect gaps on the knowledge to further give recommendations on what should be studied. The results show the lack of numerical approaches to solidly taken case studies, especially in some countries of the region such as Central America and some of the states of South America. Disaggregate car ownership models are highly necessary for clarification of the region's behavioral aspects of car ownership such as personal and household preferences and lifestyles.

Agent-Based Model for End-of-Life Product Flow Analysis

“…Three different alternatives were tested for each subgroup: 1 depot center, 2 depot centers and 3 depot centers. Populations sizes and densities were inspired from real Quebec cities [57], while the car ownership percentages were estimated with data from Canada, Sweden, United Kingdom and Ireland [58][59][60]. To reflect the regions that these scenarios are based upon, the simulated population size was increased from 10,000 to 50,000.…”

“…Considering that the survey used for the calibration of the PBC had 88.1% of the participants owning a vehicle at the time of the study [48], compared to the empirical data used to define the experiences [58][59][60], the percentage of private vehicle ownership may have been overestimated in the calibration process. While the main reason to own a vehicle is to facilitate travel over longer distances, participants from the survey could be more sensible to travel distances.…”

A Study of Ownership Forecasting Based on Regression-Combination of Civilian Vehicles in Xi'An

“…A Nolan believes that family travel behavior is a key factor, and income, family structure and other factors are significant [2]. A group of researcher argue that the dependence of cars restricts the sustainable development of traffic and after analyzed the relevant studies in Latin America, Central America and some South American countries, they pointed out that the disaggregated model (individual income and way of life) is a more reliable method to explore such questions [3].…”

A Surrogate Video-Based Safety Methodology for Diagnosis and Evaluation of Low-Cost Pedestrian-Safety Countermeasures: The Case of Cochabamba, Bolivia

“…Pedestrians and cyclists represent more than 25% of the fatalities in Latin American countries, with the share rising to more than 50% in some countries (in comparison to 16% of road fatalities in the United States) [4,5]. In the face of increasing pressure on cities associated with rapid urban growth and motorization, road traffic injuries and fatalities, particularly for vulnerable users, are expected to increase [6].While many developed countries have established road safety programs and action plans, (e.g., "Vision Zero"), such programs are often absent or weak in Latin America. Crash data and knowledge needed for designing and evaluating traffic safety programs frequently do not exist or are limited in quality.…”

“…Pedestrians and cyclists represent more than 25% of the fatalities in Latin American countries, with the share rising to more than 50% in some countries (in comparison to 16% of road fatalities in the United States) [4,5]. In the face of increasing pressure on cities associated with rapid urban growth and motorization, road traffic injuries and fatalities, particularly for vulnerable users, are expected to increase [6].…”