Road Conditions Statistics provides information on the condition of local authority road, motorways and trunk roads in England.

The statistics are drawn from a number of sources, including SCANNER surveys (machine surveys of local authorities’ classified roads), TRACS surveys (machine surveys of the Highways Agency’s road network), manual surveys of unclassified roads, and skidding resistance surveys.

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• Road conditions statistical releases

Update 31 July 2012: An error has been indentified in the published Road Condition Index statistics for classified local authority roads in England. An initial investigation shows that this error affects data for the period 2006-07 to 2010-11 inclusive.

We apologise for this error and any inconvenience caused by it.

The following affected documents were removed from the DfT website on 31 July 2012 to allow the error to be investigated further and corrected:

• Road Conditions in England statistical releases
• Road Conditions statistical tables RDC0101 to RDC0107

The problem was identified while statisticians were investigating differences between the DfT’s Road Conditions Index and figures reported by local authorities (single data list items 130-01 and 130-02 – table RDC0120). This table is not affected by the error and continues to be available.

The Department for Transport will re-issue a set of revised data for the Road Conditions Index covering 2006-07 to 2010-11 in due course and will notify users of the planned date(s) for the release of the revised figures once available.

All other statistics on road condition and road maintenance are unaffected by this error. These consist of:

• surface condition of unclassified roads (tables RDC0130 and RDC0131)
• skidding resistance on principal roads (table RDC0140)
• surface condition and skidding resistance on highways agency managed (trunk) roads (tables RDC0201 and RDC0210)
• road maintenance expenditure (table RDC0310)
• road maintenance work carried out on local authority roads (table RDC0320)
• motor vehicle traffic flows (table RDC0301)

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• Road conditions statistical tables

Notes and guidance

• A introduction guide to measures of road conditions (PDF – 32 KB)

National Statistics

All of the statistics compiled by the DfT are designated as National Statistics. The following tables are provided by other bodies are not designated as National Statistics.

• RDC0130, RDC0131 (condition of unclassified roads)
  Supplied by the Association of Directors of Environment, Planning and Transportation (ADEPT)
• RDC0201, RDC0210 (trunk roads)
  Supplied by the Highways Agency

The Department’s view is that all statistics which are not designated as National Statistics are robust and have been produced to a suitable standard. They are provided to give extra context.

These statistics were assessed by the United Kingdom Statistics Authority (UKSA) in 2010. The statistics were confirmed as National Statistics in October 2010.

• Assessment of compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics: statistics on road conditions in England (PDF – 75 KB)
• Letter of confirmation as National Statistics (PDF – 61 KB)

Pre-release access lists

The list below details the post holders who are given pre-release access to the statistics for up to 24 hours prior to release:

• Pre-release access list for road condition statistics (PDF – 11 KB)

Technical information

• Road condition statistics: notes and definitions (PDF – 45 KB)
• Road condition statistics: technical note (PDF – 1156 KB)

Contact us

• roadmaintenance.stats@dft.gsi.gov.uk
• Phone: 020 7944 5032 (public enquiries)
• Phone: 020 7944 3066 (media enquiries)