Traffic
DfT Traffic statistics provide estimates of the vehicle miles travelled each year in Great Britain, by vehicle type, road category and region. The department releases both quarterly and annual estimates, with the latter providing more detail and precision than the former.
Browse statistical releases within this series
Browse individual statistical tables within this series
Notes and guidance
Quarterly traffic estimates
Provisional quarterly traffic estimates are based on traffic data collected continuously from a national network of around 180 Automatic Traffic Counters (ATC). Quarterly estimates are provisional until they have been constrained by the final annual estimates each year.
Annual traffic estimates
Annual road traffic estimates are mainly based on around ten thousand manual counts, which are combined with ATC data and road lengths to produce overall estimates
The total activity of traffic on the road network in Great Britain is measured in vehicle miles/kilometres.
Traffic estimates for major roads are based on a census of all such roads whereas traffic estimates for minor roads are estimated by calculating growth rates from a fixed sample of count points on the minor road network.
National Statistics
Estimates of road traffic at national and regional levels are designated as National Statistics. Estimates of road traffic at local authority level are less robust and are not designated as National Statistics.
Pre-release access lists
These lists detail the post-holders that are given pre-release access for up to 24 hours prior to release.
Technical information
Further technical information on the Traffic series statistics and the production of traffic estimates.
- Traffic estimates: notes and definitions (PDF – 54 KB)
- Quarterly road traffic estimates: methodology note (PDF – 32 KB)
- Annual road traffic estimates: methodology note(PDF – 55 KB)
- Foreign registered vehicle estimates: methodology note (PDF – 44 KB)
- Minor road benchmarking: frequency asked questions (PDF – 28 KB)
- Office for National Statistics benchmarking technical report (PDF – 76 KB)
Information on traffic statistics for previous years which were published on the Department’s old website can be found at:
Background information
The following geographical website allows users to view and download estimated traffic flows on every link of the ‘A’ road and motorway network in Great Britain. An interactive map provides a mapped background to identify traffic flows in specific areas of the country.
The complete AADF and Traffic datasets for 2000 to 2010 (major and minor roads) are available to download from data.gov.uk/dataset/gb-road-traffic-counts.
Contact us
- roadtraff.stats@dft.gsi.gov.uk
- Phone: 020 7944 3095
