Quarterly Road Traffic Estimates: Quarter 2 2012

While car traffic in spring 2012 was down 0.7%, the category including motorbikes, buses and coaches dropped by 19.2%.

The DfT says that the economic downturn may have contributed to the fall, adding that the extremely wet weather in April and June may have put people off making trips for leisure purposes.

The only category of motor vehicle that increased in miles driven in the second quarter of 2012 was light goods vehicles – up 1.5% compared with spring 2011. In contrast, heavy goods vehicle traffic fell 4.4%.

Traffic volumes fell on motorways, urban and rural roads in spring 2012. Rural roads experienced the biggest decline, with minor rural road traffic down 5.2%, but traffic on rural A roads rose 0.5%.