Organisation: Department for Transport
Date uploaded: 27th November 2013
Date published/launched: November 2013
The DfT published three sets of statistics on 14 November 2013 covering road traffic levels, congestion and journey times for the period July-September (Q3) 2013
The statistics show an increase in traffic levels in Q3 2013 compared with the same period in 2012. All motor vehicle traffic was 2.3% higher when compared to the same quarter in 2012. There was an increase in all vehicle types: LGV traffic increased by 5.1%, HGV traffic grew by 2.7%, and car traffic increased by 1.9%. However, the DfT points that high levels of rainfall in Q3 2012 may have deterred some people from making journeys by road, which may account for some or all of the increase. Traffic volumes increased on all road types, with a larger increase in motorway traffic (3.2%) than traffic on rural and urban roads, which both increased by 2.1%.
In a separate bulletin, the DfT reveals that 77.4% of journeys on the Highways Agency’s network were completed ‘on time’ in the year ending September 2013.
In the same period, provisional data shows that the average speed on locally managed ‘A’ roads in England during the weekday morning peak was 24.9 mph.
For more information contact: