Official Statistics

Road use statistics: 2016

An overview of statistics on roads and how they are used, drawing on previously published statistics from a range of DfT sources.

Documents

Road use statistics: 2016 report

Details

This is a new publication which draws together key results from DfT statistics, in particular road traffic statistics, National Travel Survey, vehicle licensing statistics, and road freight statistics to provide an overall picture of roads, vehicles and how people use roads.

We would welcome feedback on this publication to inform any future work or updates.

This publication illustrates the key messages from the department’s statistics. We see:

  • most people’s journeys are made by road and the majority of these are made by car or van
  • men drive further than women on average but the distance driven by women is growing, reflecting an increase in licence holding by older women
  • almost 3 times more goods are moved by road than by water and rail combined
  • recent trends show a resumption of traffic growth after the recession
  • van traffic has grown faster than car traffic on all types of road in recent years
  • there have been improvements in road safety and environmental impact of road users over the last decade

Contact us

National Travel Survey statistics

Email national.travelsurvey@dft.gov.uk

Public enquiries 020 7944 3077

Media enquiries 0300 7777 878

Road traffic and vehicle speed compliance statistics

Email roadtraff.stats@dft.gov.uk

Media enquiries 0300 7777 878

Published 7 April 2016