Some Motoring Facts And Figures

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hawk20

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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: -
  • 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.
 
27.6 million, think of all of that road tax, and fuel tax.
I know. It is incredible. And we still can't build a decent motorway from London to Cornwall. East-west travel in the UK is pretty awful.

Did you see that car traffic has all but doubled since 1980 (well up by 87%). Where are the roads for them all?
 
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Did you notice that the average peak time traffic speeds in English urban areas (where most people live) in 2006 was 20.9 mph! I'll get my bike out.:)
 
A clamp down on untaxed/uninsured/untested cars would ease congestion and should raise more tax (fines) in the process. But this would be attacking the government's core voters.
 
Good article in the Times today: -
http://driving.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/driving/article3200991.ece
The Times
January 17, 2008
Huge rise in traffic choking the roads


"Motorists are using cars more and more despite record fuel prices, higher vehicle taxes, and entreaties by the Government for greater use of public transport. Traffic has risen sharply in the past decade in almost every part of England except Inner London, despite the Government’s pledge for a greener transport system, figures today reveal.

In many areas the country’s roads are at saturation point, with drivers now overloading rural routes as they attempt to escape jams.

The greatest rises have been in rural counties where drivers have taken advantage of spare road capacity. In London and some Home Counties the increases have been more modest, but only because the roads are already full for most of the day.
The figures, published in a written parliamentary answer yesterday, show that across England road traffic rose by 12 per cent between 1997 and 2006. "
 
I'm told that in the 10 years since this Government came into office the number of cars has risen by 8 million, which was against their election promises. If you line those 8 million up bumper to bumper 8 lanes across the line would go from London to Edinburgh. WOW. But that was Jeremy Clarkson's stats so maybe a wee bit exagerated.
 
I'm told that in the 10 years since this Government came into office the number of cars has risen by 8 million, which was against their election promises. If you line those 8 million up bumper to bumper 8 lanes across the line would go from London to Edinburgh. WOW. But that was Jeremy Clarkson's stats so maybe a wee bit exagerated.

Well I think he has understated and may need a new calculator. Try it this way. You can nearly do it in your head. Eight million cars in eight lanes, is 1 million cars in each lane.

Bumper to bumper, say 15 ft long for each car. So each lane is 15 million feet long.

That is (divide by 3) about 5 million yards long.

Now a calculator helps. Divide by 1,760 yards per mile to get miles and you get about 2,840 miles of cars, eight abreast, bumper to bumper. How far is New York?

If we reduce the average car size to 14ft, it is still over 2,500 miles. Or have I made an error?
 
Well I think he has understated and may need a new calculator. Try it this way. You can nearly do it in your head. Eight million cars in eight lanes, is 1 million cars in each lane.

Bumper to bumper, say 15 ft long for each car. So each lane is 15 million feet long.

That is (divide by 3) about 5 million yards long.

Now a calculator helps. Divide by 1,760 yards per mile to get miles and you get about 2,840 miles of cars, eight abreast, bumper to bumper. How far is New York?

If we reduce the average car size to 14ft, it is still over 2,500 miles. Or have I made an error?

Top answer, you must have too much time on your hands. It's too many more cars whatever way you look at it :)
 
Absolutely too many cars. Take everything except mercs off the roads immediately:D
 
I know. It is incredible. And we still can't build a decent motorway from London to Cornwall. East-west travel in the UK is pretty awful.

Would you allow me to change that to 'And we are still not allowed to build a decent motorway from London to Cornwall'? :D

Did you see that car traffic has all but doubled since 1980 (well up by 87%). Where are the roads for them all?

In one word - Swampy :rolleyes: 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.

Ah, that's better, just my opinion of course, but I see more and more of this every day... :crazy:
 
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.

Ah, that's better, just my opinion of course, but I see more and more of this every day... :crazy:

I totally agree with you. We are being swamped by a quite ludicrous amount of bureaucracy and an archaic planning system. And politicians are now paralysed on the road front by fear of the environmental lobby.
 
I totally agree with you. We are being swamped by a quite ludicrous amount of bureaucracy and an archaic planning system. And politicians are now paralysed on the road front by fear of the environmental lobby.
I think you'll find we are talking about this young gentleman who decided to seek publicity

John
 

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