The typical American driver spent more than 17,600 minutes behind the wheel in the past year, according to AAA.

The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety recently released the results of its American Driving Survey. Drivers reported an average of 2.1 trips per day, with these journeys typically covering 29.8 miles and taking 48.4 minutes to complete. Over the course of the year, these figures total 763 trips, 10,874 miles, and 294 hours.

"The amount of time the average driver spends behind the wheel each year is equivalent to seven 40-hour weeks at the office," said Jurek Grabowski, research director for the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. "It's clear that traveling by car remains a central part of American's lives."

The survey determined that 87.5 percent of Americans ages 16 or older had driven a vehicle in the past year. The oldest and youngest age groups were least likely to drive, with only 73.4 percent of respondents between the ages of 16 and 19 and 74 percent of those ages 75 and older reporting that they had driven at least rarely in the past year. By contrast, 91.1 percent of the 30-49 age group and 90.9 percent of the 50-64 age group reported driving.

Rural residents were more likely to drive, with 91.3 percent of respondents who lived in the country saying they had driven in the past year. The share dropped to 89.5 percent for town residents and 84.9 percent for city residents.

A respondent's education level also seemed to affect the likelihood that they had driven. While 94.8 percent of college graduates said they had driven in the past year, the share fell to 93 percent for those with some college education, 87.2 percent for high school graduates or those with a GED, and 68.3 percent for those who did not graduate high school.

Men were more likely to drive than women, with 89.5 percent reporting that they have driven in the past year. A total of 85.8 percent said they had driven in the past year.

Women reported taking daily trips more frequently, making an average of 2.1 trips per day while men made an average of two trips. But men also traveled an average of 2,314 more miles and spent 18 percent more time behind the wheel than women.

Fifty-eight percent of households in the United States reported that they had one vehicle for every driver. Twenty-eight percent had more vehicles than drivers, while 14 percent had fewer vehicles than drivers.

A total of 7.4 percent of households reported having no vehicles. Respondents were more likely to report that they did not have a vehicle if they lived in a city, lived in the Northeast, were the only person in the household, had at least one person in the household who was at least 75 years old, or did not graduate high school.

The survey found that the oldest age group logged the fewest miles, with the average driver over the age of 75 driving for 177 hours and covering an estimated 5,840 miles per year. Drivers between the ages of 16 and 19 were close behind, spending 208 hours traveling an estimated 7,551 miles per year on average. Drivers between the ages of 30 and 49 traveled the most, with an estimated annual total of 13,506 miles and 363 hours of driving time.

Drivers living in rural areas also covered a significant distance each year, an estimated 13,029 miles. AAA said that while drivers in towns and cities were more likely to make multiple trips, rural drivers had to cover greater distances even when making fewer trips.

Americans were most likely to travel during the fall, covering an average of 31.5 miles per day between October and December. The average daily trip fell to its lowest point, 26.2 miles, between January and March.

About two-thirds of all trips—66.2 percent—were made alone, accounting for 61.9 percent of all miles covered. The remaining 33.8 percent of the trips had at least one passenger and accounted for 38.1 percent of the total distance covered.

Fifty-one percent of the personal travel in the United States was made with cars. Another 20 percent of the mileage total was attributed to SUVs, 17 percent to pickup trucks, 8 percent to vans, and 4 percent to other vehicles.

AAA estimates that Americans drove 2.45 trillion miles in light vehicles such as cars, pickups, SUVs, and vans in 2015. This total was up 2.4 percent from the results of their 2014 survey. The total was significantly lower than the estimate of 3.15 trillion miles provided by the Federal Highway Administration, but this total also includes buses and trucks.

The American Driving Survey used responses from 7,576 households, which included a total of 15,469 residents. Information on daily travel distances and times was derived from a sample of 5,774 drivers in those households.

AAA says the research into Americans' daily and yearly travel habits is important for traffic safety research. The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety has been collecting this information since May 2013.