Traffic in Great Britain: Quarter 3 2006

The Department for Transport has today published National Statistics on Traffic in Great Britain, including analyses by vehicle type and road class, for the third quarter of 2006.

These provisional figures indicate that estimated traffic levels rose by 0.7 per cent between Q3 2005 and Q3 2006. Other key results, comparing the provisional Q3 2006 estimates with the final estimates for the same quarter one year earlier (Q3 2005) include:

• Car traffic rose by 1 per cent
• Light van traffic was 2 per cent lower
• Goods vehicle traffic fell by 2 per cent
• Traffic on motorways rose by 1 per cent
• Traffic on Rural A roads and Minor Rural roads both increased by 1 per cent
• Traffic on Urban A roads and on Minor Urban roads was virtually unchanged.

Notes

1. The next quarterly bulletin will be published on Thursday 8 February 2007.
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 could increase without increasing congestion if traffic 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 mainly 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. In London, the data are based on Automatic Traffic Counters which classify vehicles, according to their length and other attributes, into two broad groups. Supplementary manual count data are applied to the automatic counts to provide estimates by vehicle type. The end of the first quarter 2006 saw the introduction of new Automatic Traffic Count classifiers in London to replace the ageing equipment.  These new classifiers are more sophisticated than those previously used, facilitating greater flexibility and accuracy in the way London data are collected and analysed.
5. Following the introduction of the new London classifiers, the London data may show a shift in the balance between smaller and large vehicles providing, in the long run, a more accurate reflection of traffic trends in London. However, such changes will have a small impact on the quarterly provisional estimates for Great Britain. (The impact will be minimal as London traffic comprises only a small proportion of the Great Britain total). As a result, minor revisions have been made to the methodology for calculating traffic on London roads in Q2 and Q3 2006. More research will be undertaken into the effects of the changes prior to the production of the 2006 annual estimates.

Publication details

Published on 9 November 2006 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