Fewer Americans like to drive, survey shows

<img width="120" height="66" align="left" src="http://www.baltimorespokes.org/images/articles/20060806151426768_1.gif" alt="">From Pew Research Center:

Today 69% of American drivers say they like to drive, down from 79% in a 1991 Gallup survey. And just 23% say they consider their car &quot;something special -- more than just a way to get around,&quot; barely half of the 43% who felt this way in 1991.

The biggest reason for the cooling of the affair isn't the recent spike in gas prices. Rather, it appears to be the result of a longer term trend -- the growing hassle of traffic congestion, according to a Pew Research Center telephone survey among a nationally representative sample of 1,182 adults (including 1,048 drivers) conducted from June 20 through July 16, 2006.

<a href="http://pewresearch.org/pubs/316/americans-and-their-cars-is-the-romance-on-the-skids">http://pewresearch.org/pubs/316/americans-and-their-cars-is-the-romance-on-the-skids</a>;