Accredited official statistics

Road traffic estimates in Great Britain, 2024: Traffic in Great Britain by road type

Published 12 June 2025

Applies to England, Scotland and Wales

About this release

This release presents the 2024 annual estimates of traffic on Great Britain’s roads broken down by road type.

Please see the companion releases for a an overview of the 2024 traffic estimates, a breakdown by vehicle type, a breakdown for England’s road networks.

Annual traffic statistics are compiled using data from around 8,000 roadside 12-hour manual counts, continuous data from automatic traffic counters, and data on road lengths. Please see our background quality report for more details.

The next annual traffic statistics release is expected to be published in June 2026, reporting 2025 traffic figures.

This publication includes both accredited official statistics^{[footnote 1]} and official statistics. For more information, see the background information section.

Overview

In 2024, motorway traffic was similar to 2023. ‘A’ roads and minor roads saw an increase in traffic levels compared to the previous year. Compared to 2019, motorways had similar levels of traffic and ‘A’ roads and minor roads had lower levels of traffic.

Chart 28: Vehicle miles travelled by road type in Great Britain, 2019 to 2024

Chart 28 is a bar chart that shows that traffic levels for motorways showed little change (+0.5%) between 2023 and 2024, and were similar to (-0.4%) the 2019 pre-pandemic levels.

Traffic on ‘A’ roads rose 2.2% between 2023 and 2024. ‘A’ road traffic in 2024 was 1.0% below pre-pandemic 2019 levels.

Minor road traffic levels increased by 1.6% between 2023 and 2024, and in 2024 were 0.6% below pre-pandemic 2019 levels.

Chart 29: Share of traffic and length by road types in Great Britain, 2024

Chart 29 is a bar chart that shows that vehicle activity is unevenly distributed across Great Britain’s road network. In 2024, 65% of the motor vehicle miles travelled were on motorways and ‘A’ roads, despite comprising only 13% of the road network by length.

Chart 30: Number of vehicles passing per 24 hours on a typical stretch of road, 2024

Chart 30 is a bar chart that shows that, on an average day in 2024, 55 times more vehicles travelled along a typical stretch of motorway than a typical stretch of a minor road (‘B’ roads, ‘C’ roads, and unclassified roads).

Motorway traffic

Definition

Motorways

Includes major roads of regional and urban strategic importance, often used for long distance travel. They are usually 3 or more lanes in each direction and generally have the maximum speed limit of 70mph.

In 2024, 70.2 billion vehicle miles were travelled on Great Britain’s motorways, little change on the 2023 total. Motorway traffic in 2024 was unchanged when compared to pre-pandemic levels (-0.4%).

Chart 31: Motorway miles in Great Britain, 2014 to 2024

Chart 31 is a bar chart that shows that motor vehicle miles travelled on motorways in Great Britain saw year-on-year growth in each year between 2014 and 2019. This was followed by a sharp decline in 2020 and then increases in the following years. Traffic levels between 2023 and 2024 showed little change. 2024 levels are broadly similar when compared to the 2019 pre-pandemic levels.

Chart 32: Motorway miles by vehicle type in Great Britain, 2019 to 2024

Chart 32 is a bar chart that shows that traffic levels on motorways for cars and vans increased between 2023 and 2024, while traffic for lorries decreased.

Between 2023 and 2024, car traffic increased by 0.7% on Great Britain’s motorways to 48.8 billion vehicle miles. Van traffic rose by 1.2% to 13.2 billion vehicle miles, and lorry traffic fell 2.1% to 7.9 billion vehicle miles. Other vehicles (motorcycles and buses and coaches) traffic levels were similar (+0.02%).

Compared to 2019 motorway traffic levels, cars, lorries and other vehicles remain below pre-pandemic levels, whereas traffic for vans was above pre-pandemic levels.

Motorways are generally the busiest roads. The road link with the highest average daily traffic flows in 2024 was a section of the M25.

5 busiest road sections

Vehicles per day in 2024 (rounded figures)

1. M25 - junction 14 to 15: 210,000

2. M25 - junction 13 to 14: 206,000

3. M25 - junction 15 to 16: 205,000

4. M25 - junction 12 to 13: 196,000

5. M60 - junction 12 to 13: 192,000

‘A’ road traffic

Definition

‘A’ Roads

Includes both principal and trunk ‘A’ roads. They are often described as the ‘main’ roads and tend to have heavy traffic flows, though not as high as motorways.

In 2024, 148.7 billion vehicle miles were travelled on Great Britain’s ‘A’ roads, an increase of 2.2% on the 2023 total. Compared to 2019, ‘A’ road traffic was 1.0% lower in 2024.

Chart 33: ‘A’ road miles in Great Britain, 2014 to 2024

Chart 33 is a bar chart that shows that motor vehicle miles travelled on ‘A’ roads in Great Britain saw year-on-year growth in each year between 2014 and 2019. This was followed by a sharp decline in 2020 and then increases in the following years. Traffic levels between 2023 and 2024 increased by 2.2% on ‘A’ roads.

Chart 34: ‘A’ road miles by vehicle type in Great Britain, 2019 to 2024

Chart 34 is a bar chart that shows that traffic levels on ‘A’ roads increased for cars, vans and other vehicles between 2023 and 2024.

Between 2023 and 2024, car traffic increased by 2.5% on Great Britain’s ‘A’ roads to 114.4 billion vehicle miles, van traffic rose by 1.6% to 24.7 billion vehicle miles, and lorry traffic fell 1.5% to 7.5 billion vehicle miles. Other vehicles increased by 3.3%.

Compared to pre-pandemic 2019 levels, 2024 traffic for cars, lorries and other vehicles remained lower, whereas traffic for vans was above 2019 levels.

Minor road traffic

Definition

Minor Roads

Includes ‘B’ and ‘C’ classified roads and unclassified roads (all of which are maintained by local authorities). Private roads are not included.

In 2024, 117.2 billion vehicle miles were travelled on Great Britain’s minor roads, an increase of 1.6% on the 2023 total. Compared to 2019, minor road traffic was 0.6% lower in 2024.

Chart 35: Minor road miles in Great Britain, 2014 to 2024

Chart 35 is a bar chart that shows that motor vehicle miles travelled on minor roads in Great Britain generally saw year-on-year growth in each year between 2014 and 2019. This was followed by a sharp decline in 2020 and then increases in the years since. Traffic levels in 2024 were 1.6% above 2023.

Chart 36: Minor road miles by vehicle type in Great Britain, 2019 to 2024

Chart 36 is a bar chart that shows that traffic levels on Great Britain’s minor roads increased for cars, vans and other vehicles between 2023 and 2024, whereas traffic for lorries decreased.

Between 2023 and 2024, car traffic on minor roads increased by 1.8% to 92.9 billion vehicle miles; van traffic increased by 1.0% to 20.6 billion vehicle miles; and lorry traffic on minor roads decreased by 3.8% to 1.3 billion vehicle miles. Other vehicles saw a 2.7% rise.

Compared to pre-pandemic 2019 levels, 2024 traffic on Great Britain’s minor roads for cars and lorries remained lower. Traffic levels for vans and other vehicles were higher than 2019.

Background information

Annual estimates make use of data from around 8,000 manual traffic counts in addition to continuous data from a national network of automatic traffic counters (ATCs). These data sources produce accurate estimates on traffic levels in Great Britain by vehicle type and by road type.

This publication is a compendium of both accredited official statistics^{[footnote 1]} and official statistics. The type of statistics presented is detailed below.

• Accredited Official Statistics: National and regional road traffic estimates and flow estimates

(Datasets: TRA0101-TRA0106, TRA0202-TRA0206, TRA0301-TRA0303, TRA0401-TRA0413, TRA3105, TRA4101-TRA4116, TRA4201-TRA4216.)

These official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in February 2013. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled ‘accredited official statistics’.

• Other official statistics: Temporal road traffic estimates

(Datasets: TRA0305-TRA0308.)

Traffic temporal distributions are not as robust, as they are based on only the ATC data, and must be treated with caution. These statistics are official statistics. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality, and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics.

• Other official statistics: Static road network road traffic estimates

(Datasets: TRA4201-TRA4216)

Traffic estimates based on a static road management status were developed after the last review of these statistics. These statistics are official statistics. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality, and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics.

• Other official statistics: Local authority road traffic estimates

(Datasets: TRA8901-TRA8907)

Traffic at this level is not as robust, due to the sample size of the minor road data, and must be treated with caution. These statistics are official statistics. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality, and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics.

Further information about these statistics is available, including:

• a detailed explanation of the methodology used to produce DfT road traffic statistics can be found online in the annual road traffic estimates: background quality report

• notes and definitions for the road traffic statistics

• the data tables, which give further detail of the key results presented in this statistical release

• a geographical website that allows users to view and download estimated traffic flows on every link of the ‘A’ road and motorway network in Great Britain

Details of Ministers and officials who receive pre-release access to these statistics up to 24 hours before release can be found on the pre-release access page.

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Contact details

Road traffic and vehicle speed compliance statistics

Email roadtraff.stats@dft.gov.uk

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1. Accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 ↩ ↩²