Collection

Road traffic statistics

Information and statistics on road traffic.

Published 8 August 2013
Last updated 30 November 2017 — see all updates
From:
Department for Transport

Department for Transport (DfT) traffic statistics provide estimates of the vehicle miles travelled each year in Great Britain, by:

  • vehicle type
  • road category
  • region

We release both quarterly and annual estimates.

The finalised Annual Road Traffic Estimates for the period ending December 2017 are due to be published in May 2018. As announced in the last Provisional Road Traffic Estimates publication, we are not publishing provisional traffic estimates for Q4 2017 in February. The decision to only publish final estimates for the year ending December 2017 is as a result of user feedback.

Our geographical website allows users to view and download estimated traffic flows on every link of the ‘A’ road and motorway network in Great Britain. The interactive map provides a mapped background to identify traffic flows in specific areas of the country.

An index sheet of all the road traffic statistical tables is available.

Revision of table TRA4201

Since the publication of the 2016 road traffic statistics on Thursday 27 April 2017, a minor formatting error has been discovered affecting table TRA4201. This table has now been corrected, and no other tables were affected by this revision.

For more information, please contact the road traffic statistics team.

Methodology review

DfT road traffic statistics team are conducting a review of the traffic estimates for Great Britain. The aim of the review is to ensure robust traffic estimates continue to be produced, seeking innovation and greater value for money in their production while protecting user needs. The review is due to be completed in 2016.

A report summarising the review so far and detailing individual projects is available.

Technical information

Provisional traffic estimates are based on traffic data collected continuously from a national network of around 180 Automatic Traffic Counters (ATC).

Provisional estimates are published quarterly and remain provisional until they have been constrained by the final annual estimates each year.

Final annual road traffic estimates are mainly based on around ten thousand manual counts, which are combined with ATC data and road lengths to produce overall estimates.

Traffic estimates for major roads are based on a census whereas traffic estimates for minor roads are estimated by calculating growth rates from a fixed sample of count points on the minor road network.

Further technical information on the traffic statistics and the production of traffic estimates is available.

National statistics

All of the statistics published are national statistics.

Road traffic statistics were assessed by the UK Statistics Authority and confirmed as a national statistic in February 2013.

Pre-release access list

The statistical pre-release access list gives access to certain post holders up to 24 hours before release.

Contact us

Road traffic and vehicle speed statistics

Publications 2017

Publications 2016

Publications 2015

Publications 2014

Publications 2013

Publications 2012

  1. Road traffic estimates 2010 (revised)

    • National Statistics

  2. Road traffic estimates: 2011

    • National Statistics

  3. Road traffic estimates for Great Britain: quarter 3 2012

    • National Statistics

Data tables

  1. Traffic volume - miles (TRA01)

    • Statistical data set

  2. Traffic volume - kilometres (TRA02)

    • Statistical data set

  3. Average annual daily flow and temporal traffic distributions (TRA03)

    • Statistical data set

  4. Quarterly traffic estimates (TRA25)

    • Statistical data set

  5. Heavy goods vehicle traffic (TRA31)

    • Statistical data set

  6. Foreign registered vehicles in Great Britain traffic (TRA32)

    • Statistical data set

  7. Traffic by local authority (TRA89)

    • Statistical data set

  8. Forecasts of traffic (TRA99)

    • Statistical data set

  9. Road traffic: Statistical tables index

    • Statistical data set

  10. Pedal cycle traffic (TRA04)

    • Statistical data set

  11. Strategic road network traffic (TRA41)

    • Statistical data set

  12. Traffic based on a static road management status (TRA42)

    • Statistical data set
Published 8 August 2013
Last updated 30 November 2017 + show all updates
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