Road Use Statistics Great Britain 2016

This publication provides an overview of statistics on Great Britain’s roads and how they are used. It brings together information previously released by the Department for Transport on vehicles, travel, and traffic.

Key findings include:

• Most people’s journeys are made by road and the majority of these are by car or van.

• The Strategic Road Network (SRN) accounts for only 2.4% of the road network length but carries a disproportionately large amount of traffic, with HGVs in particular depending on the SRN.

• Over the last two decades the rate of car traffic growth has slowed. For an average person, car use fell throughout the 2000s, but this was partially offset by an increase in population using the roads.

• Recent trends show a resumption of traffic growth after the recession. Growth has been strongest on the SRN and for van traffic across all roads.

• Men drive further than women on average, but the distance driven by women is growing, reflecting an increase in licence holding by older women.

• Car use per person has fallen among young men, mostly due to a drop in the number of 17-20 year old males gaining a driving licence.

• Van traffic has grown faster than car traffic on all types of road in recent years. However, HGV traffic has not yet returned to pre-recession levels.

• Despite growth in traffic, there have been large decreases in road casualties on all roads.

• Road user satisfaction has been fairly stable over recent years. Satisfaction with different aspects of the SRN varies, but remains high.