black households had no car in 1973. These percentages are
substantially higher than for other households at these income
levels (Table 7-13).
Blacks had
only about 15 percent more drivers than households; other races
reported about 65 percent more. To a large degree this represents
the extent to which the latter had more than one car. About 45
percent of nonblack homes (compared with 20 percent of all black
households) had more than one car. Thus, the ratio of all cars to
all households was less than one for blacks (.79), but close to one
and one-half for others (1.43). The ratio of drivers to cars,
similarly, indicates that 44 percent more blacks know how to drive
than have cars, compared with only 16 percent more drivers than
cars in other households.
These
various relationships—cars to households, drivers to
households, and drivers to cars—change substantially with
income class, but blacks have less advantage in every one. Among
the nonpoor as a whole, for instance, black households had about 20
percent more cars than households compared with over 50 percent
more cars than households in other families. Blacks had 50 percent
more drivers than households among the nonpoor compared with 80
percent more in other nonpoor households (Table 7-14).
Thus black
households used substantially less gasoline and logged far fewer
automobile miles than others. The median number of gallons of
gasoline black households used in 1972 was about half the median
for others—490 versus 910 (Table 7-15). Blacks drove a median
of 9,000 miles while others drove 15,000. Less than one-fifth of
black households drove 20,000 miles or more, compared to one-third
of the others.
The amount
of gasoline used depends on miles per gallon that cars get, as well
as miles driven. Black households usually buy used cars, and their
cars tend to be older, whether in single-car or multiple-car
households (Table 7-16). Thus they report better mileage (Table
7-17). Older cars are lighter than new ones and tend to have fewer
fuel using accessories. All those who bought used cars, in fact,
report better mileage than those who bought their cars new. The
weight of new cars is increasing, regardless of make or
model—compact, standard, luxury, or van/pickup.
Among
one-car black households, standard or full sized models predominate
(75 percent), while 15 percent have a compact. Other one-car
households tend to have more compacts. The newest car among
multiple car households (mostly those with two cars rather than
three or more) is less likely to be a standard model. The trend
among blacks who can afford a second car is in two directions:
toward a compact (26 percent compared to 15 percent in the one-car
families) or toward a luxury car (14 percent compared to 6 percent
in the one-car households). The standard model is still the black
household's favorite even among those with two cars. Other
households' second cars are overwhelmingly standard or compact
models, but the number of vans or pickup trucks becomes relatively
important (13 percent compared to 3 percent in the