Road Statistics 2008: Traffic, Speeds and Congestion

Car traffic still accounts for the most significant share of the overall traffic, making up 79 per cent of all motor vehicle traffic. In 2008, car traffic totalled 401.7 billion vehicle kilometres. This is a 0.6 per cent decrease from 2007, and is up by 8.4 per cent since 1998.

Light van traffic fell for the first time since 1992. Light van traffic was 68.1 billion vehicle kilometres, a 0.4 per cent decrease from 2007, and is up by 34 per cent since 1998. 

In 2008, heavy goods vehicle traffic was estimated to be 28.7 billion vehicle kilometres. This was a decrease of 2.2 per cent from 2007 and a 3.6 per cent increase from 1998.

In 2008, 28 per cent of traffic was on rural ‘A’ roads, 22 per cent on urban minor roads, 20 per cent on motorways, 16 per cent on urban ‘A’ roads and 14 per cent on rural minor roads.

In 2008, the South East of England was responsible for 17 per cent (87.1 billion vehicle kilometres) of all motor vehicle traffic in Great Britain.
In 2008, motorways and ‘A’ roads accounted for 0.9 per cent and 12 per cent respectively of the road length in Great Britain. In contrast, 20 per cent of all traffic was on motorways and 44 per cent on ‘A’ roads.

The minor (i.e. ‘B’, ‘C’ and unclassified) road length in Great Britain was estimated to be 344.2 thousand kilometres in 2008, amounting to 87 per cent of the total road length. These roads carried 37 per cent of all traffic.
Free Flow Vehicle Speeds in Great Britain

The reduction in overall traffic in 2008 does not appear to have changed average free flow vehicle speeds. 

In the ten years from 1998, the percentage of vehicles exceeding the 30 mph speed limit in free flow conditions on built-up roads has dropped for every vehicle type. The most significant decrease was for cars. In 1998, 69 per cent of cars travelled at speeds in excess of the limit; by 2008 this dropped to less than half.

On motorways in 2008, 49 per cent of cars exceeded the 70 mph speed limit. In addition, 15 per cent of cars were recorded as travelling at 80 mph or faster.

Very few heavy goods vehicles exceeded their speed limit of 60 mph on motorways. However, over 85 per cent of them exceeded the 50 mph speed limit on dual carriageway non-built-up roads and over three-quarters exceeded the 40 mph limit on single carriageway non-built-up roads.

In 2008, over half of all motorcycles travelled faster than the 30 mph speed limit in built-up areas. Half of these (or a quarter of the total) exceeded the speed limit by 5 mph or more.
On motorways the percentage of cars travelling over 70 mph was at its lowest between 7 and 8 am and 5 and 6 pm. The drop in excessive speed at these times is likely to be due to an increase in traffic volumes during the peak periods.

Congestion and Traffic Speeds on the Inter-Urban Road Network in England

Average vehicle delay on the slowest 10% of journeys fell to 3.42 minutes per 10 miles from 3.90 minutes per 10 miles between the baseline year ending March 2008 and the year ending March 2009, a decrease of 12.3 per cent.

The average traffic speed over the whole network rose from 55.6 mph in 2005 to 55.9 mph in 2008, an increase of 0.5 per cent. The average speed for the weekday evening peak rose by 0.3 per cent. Speeds on motorways fell by 0.4 per cent and on dual carriageway ‘A’ roads speeds rose by 2.1 per cent. Roads experiencing all traffic conditions are included in these figures.

Congestion in English Urban Areas

The average person journey time in 2007-08 was 4 minutes 8 seconds per mile. This was 1 second per mile faster than 2006-07, and 8 seconds per miles (3.1 per cent) faster when compared to the baseline.

Average morning peak speeds on key routes in the ten largest urban areas vary considerably, both geographically and on a day to day basis.

Thirteen per cent of monitored route segments achieve average speeds of 26 miles per hour or faster, and 41 per cent with average speeds of 15 miles per hour or slower.

The morning peak in congestion on the key routes is slightly less pronounced on Fridays than other days in the week. There is little or no morning peak on weekends or during school holidays.