hawk20
MB Enthusiast
SOME MOTORING FACTS AND FIGURES
Not surprisingly lots of threads include remarks about congestion, the number of cars, lorries, buses and so on and the speed of traffic, the number of accidents and many other issues on which having a few facts (or statistics) can be useful. As an economist I’ve spent most of my life immersed in data about the economy, inflation, unemployment, interest rates, money supply and so on. But just for fun, I thought I would try to put together some useful motoring facts that might interest forum members. Believe it or not we have a huge amount of data available about cars, travel and so on. Here is a selection
SOME MOTORING TITBITS: -
Not surprisingly lots of threads include remarks about congestion, the number of cars, lorries, buses and so on and the speed of traffic, the number of accidents and many other issues on which having a few facts (or statistics) can be useful. As an economist I’ve spent most of my life immersed in data about the economy, inflation, unemployment, interest rates, money supply and so on. But just for fun, I thought I would try to put together some useful motoring facts that might interest forum members. Believe it or not we have a huge amount of data available about cars, travel and so on. Here is a selection
SOME MOTORING TITBITS: -
- Total road traffic increased by 84 per cent between 1980 and 2006, from 277 to 511 billion vehicle kilometres. Most of this growth occurred between 1980 and 1990; however, since 1990 traffic has increased by almost a quarter.
- Nearly a third of households now have access to two or more cars, more than the proportion of households without access to a car. Men are still more likely to have a driving licence but the proportion of women holding a licence has been increasing at a faster rate
- The majority of the growth has been in car traffic, which has risen by 87 per cent since 1980, from 215 to 402 billion vehicle kilometres. Car traffic grew sharply in the 1980s, but has risen more slowly since. Following the decrease between 2004 and 2005, car traffic has grown again, increasing between 2005 and 2006 by 5.2 billion vehicle kilometres.
- Light van traffic has increased two and a half times since 1980, from 26 to 64 billion vehicle kilometres. The distance travelled by heavy goods vehicles has also increased, from 20 to 29 billion vehicle kilometres, a rise of 48 per cent since 1980.
- Bus and coach traffic increased by 53 per cent between 1980 and 2006, from 3.5 to 5.4 billion vehicle kilometres. Motorcycle traffic halved between 1980 and 1996, but then increased by 38 per cent between 1996 and 2006. Pedal cycle traffic grew in the early 1980s but fell by 37 per cent between 1984 and 1993, and then remained steady at 4 billion vehicle kilometres per year between 1993 and 1999. Between 2000 and 2006, pedal cycle traffic grew from 4.2 to 4.6 billion vehicle kilometres, the highest since 1992.
- Freight and Logistics: - The weight of goods lifted in Great Britain has increased by 32 per cent since 1980 with most of that increase occurring during the 1980s. This rise was largely due to increases in the amount of goods lifted by road. Another important freight measure is tonne kilometres moved (defined as tonnes carried multiplied by kilometres travelled). This too has increased, rising 44 per cent since 1980.
- The average peak time traffic speeds in English urban areas in 2006 was 20.9 mph, virtually unchanged from 2004, and slightly below speeds in 1999/2000, when the average was 21.8 mph.
- The growth in traffic levels has been much greater than the increase in total road length.
- In 2006, motorways accounted for less than 1 per cent of road length, trunk roads (excluding motorways) 2 per cent, and other major roads 10 per cent. Minor roads (B, C and unclassified roads) made up 87 per cent of road length. There has been little change in these proportions since 1980.
- The number of licensed vehicles increased by 74 per cent between 1980 and 2006, from 19.2 to 33.4 million. The rise has been steady throughout this time, apart from a brief period of stability between 1989 and 1991. Almost all of the overall increase is accounted for by the 82 per cent increase in vehicles in the 'private and light goods' tax class between 1980 and 2006. The number of motorcycles fell by 20 per cent and buses by 3 per cent. The number of goods vehicles fell by 12 per cent.
- Across all the vehicle taxation classes, the number of licensed cars has increased steadily from 15.5 million in 1982 to 27.8 million in 2006, an 80 per cent increase.
- About 9 per cent of licensed cars were registered as company cars in 2006; this proportion has shown little change in recent years.
- Total new cars sold p.a. 2,200,000 of which 1.2 million (54%) are sold to fleets. Total used cars sold p.a. 7,800,000. Total car sales p.a. (new & used) 10,000,000.
Or in more words, the environmental lobby assisted in effectively shutting down this country's roadbuilding programme in the 90s. Political point scoring has resulted in the fact that routes which had been targeted for improvement over twenty years ago are still sitting in documents such as county council structure plans awaiting decisions. Of course they'll cost a little more now because all the planning requirements are under increased scrutiny and things take much longer by the time the opinions of the archaeologists, ecologists, sustainability, built heritage, noise and acoustics, conservation, landscape and visual consultants, etc are included. Don't get me wrong, things need to be done properly 
but it is far more complicated now and more and more major infrastructure schemes are failing to get off the ground because of the convoluted processes involved.
