Traffic in Great Britain: Quarter 4 2006

Traffic in Great Britain: Quarter 4 2006

Key results include:

Provisional fourth quarter 2006 figures

Between the fourth quarters of 2005 and 2006:

• Car traffic increased by 2 per cent  
• Goods vehicle traffic was virtually unchanged
• Traffic on rural A roads and minor rural roads increased by 2 per cent and 3 per cent respectively
• Traffic on urban A roads and minor urban roads was virtually unchanged

Comparing 2006 with 2005 as a whole, the provisional estimates show that:

• Car traffic was 1 per cent higher
• Light van traffic increased by 3 per cent
• Goods vehicle traffic was 1 per cent higher
• Traffic on motorways rose by 1 per cent while traffic on rural A roads and minor rural roads was 2 per cent higher
• Traffic on urban A roads and minor urban roads was virtually unchanged

NOTES

1. The next quarterly bulletin will be published on Thursday 10 May.
2. The figures relate to traffic, measured in terms of vehicle kilometres, and sometimes known as the volume of traffic. This is not the same as congestion. For example, traffic levels might show an increase but at the same time congestion levels may decline. This could happen if, for example, there is more traffic overall but it is more evenly spread during the day, with less during peak periods and more at other times. Congestion has a number of consequences, such as causing delays and making journey times unreliable.
3. The quarterly estimates are based on data at 152 sites. Caution should be taken in drawing conclusions about longer term trends from a single quarter's or year's estimates.
4. The publication of this statistics bulletin Road Traffic in Great Britain - Q4 2006 was delayed by a week for operational reasons involving problems with the Automatic Traffic Counters positioned outside London. For more information, see the Special note on page 4 of the bulletin.
5. More detailed information on traffic flow data at selected points on the major road network and vehicle kilometre estimates by type of vehicle and class of road is available from the Department for Transport and from the web-site www.dft-matrix.net .

Publication Details

Published on 15 February 2007 by Transport Statistics

E-mail roadtraff.stats@dft.gov.ukfor queries concerning survey results

For information about release of this product see National Statistics Online