Provisional Road Traffic Estimates Great Britain (July 2019 – June 2020)

Organisation: Department for Transport
Date uploaded: 4th November 2020
Date published/launched: October 2020

This release presents provisional estimates for road traffic in Great Britain for July 2019 to June 2020. 

Provisional estimates are published quarterly and remain provisional until after they have been constrained by the final annual estimates each year. These provisional estimates are based on traffic data collected continuously from a network of around 300 automatic traffic counters. Final annual figures also incorporate manual traffic count data. 

Key Findings
Compared to the year ending June 2019, in the year ending June 2020:

• All motor vehicle traffic decreased by 13.6%. This is the largest fallsince quarterly records started in 1994.

• Car traffic decreased by 15.2% to 234.1 billion vehicle miles.

• Van and lorry traffic decreased by 7.3% and 7.8%, respectively.

• Traffic decreased across all main road types. Motorways, ‘A’ roads and minor roads decreased by 17.3%, 14.1% and 11.1% respectively.

Coronavirus has had a wide impact on UK society and economic activity since March 2020. Exploratory analysis suggests that the observed decrease in road traffic levels may be linked to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the associated impacts on travel.

External links: Download the statistical release from the GOV.UK website