Road Statistics 2009: Traffic, Speeds and Congestion

The Department for Transport has published this statistical bulletin, Road Statistics 2009: Traffic, Speeds and Congestion, according to the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority.

In 2009, the overall motor vehicle traffic volume in Great Britain was 313.2 billion vehicle miles, down by three billion vehicle miles from last year.

This 1% fall in overall traffic levels (which follows on from a 0.8% fall between 2007 and 2008) is the first time motor vehicle traffic has fallen for two consecutive years since records began in 1949. However, traffic levels in 2009 were 7.9% higher than in 1999.

Car traffic was 249 billion vehicle miles in 2009, making up 79.5% of all motor vehicle traffic. In 2009 car traffic was 0.3% lower than in 2008, but 6.2% higher than 1999.

Light van traffic fell by 2.2% to 41.4 billion vehicle miles, this was 29.1% higher than 1999. The fall in light van traffic accounted for 0.9 of the three billion vehicle mile fall in overall motor vehicle traffic between 2008 and 2009.

In 2009, heavy goods vehicle traffic was 16.4 billion vehicle miles, down 1.5 billion vehicle miles from 2008, an 8.2% fall which left overall heavy goods vehicle traffic levels lower than 1999 (by 6.3%).

In 2009, 20% of traffic was on motorways, 28% on rural ‘A’ roads, 16% on urban ‘A’ roads, 14% on rural minor roads and 22% on urban minor roads.

The total length of road in Great Britain in 2009 was estimated to be 245.1 thousand miles. Minor roads made up 87.2% of total road lengths, with motorways and ‘A’ roads accounting for 0.9% and 11.9% respectively.

Around 1 in every 255 vehicle miles, or 0.39% of all motor vehicle traffic in Great Britain was driven by foreign registered vehicles.