Summary statistics
328.1 billion miles were driven on Great Britain’s roads in 2018, similar (a 0.3% increase) to the previous year.
Road traffic by vehicle type
| Time period: | 1993 to 2018 |
| Source: | Road traffic estimates in Great Britain: 2018 |
255.0 bvm
Cars and taxis
51.0 bvm
Light commerical vehicles
17.1 bvm
Heavy goods vehicles
3.3 bvm
Pedal cycles
2.3 bvm
Buses and coaches
2.7 bvm
Motorcycles
The main facts and figures show that:
- Car traffic remained broadly stable (increasing by 0.2%) compared to 2017. The figure of 255.0 billion vehicle miles (bvm) is the highest annual estimate ever of car traffic.
- Van traffic grew slightly (by 0.9%) from 2017 to 51.0 bvm. There has been a slowdown in the growth of van traffic over the last two years.
- Lorry traffic remained broadly stable (increasing by 0.3%) compared to 2017
- Pedal cycle traffic (cyclists on public highways, and the cycle paths and footpaths adjacent to them) was 3.3 bvm, 17.2% above the figure ten years before
Traffic by road type
| Time period: | 1993 to 2018 |
| Source: | Road traffic estimates in Great Britain: 2018 |
The main facts and figures show that:
- Motorways carried 69.0 bvm of traffic, broadly stable (0.5% increase) compared to 2017, and 10.9% more than ten years ago
- The Strategic Road Network carried 94.7 bvm of traffic (a new high); one-third of all motorised traffic in England
- 'A' roads saw a 1.4% rise in traffic from 2017
- Minor road traffic decreased 1.3% since 2017
Annual traffic across Great Britain
Data downloads
Download street-level traffic figures for all regions, local authorities and count point locations.
- Annual average daily flow
- Annual average daily flow by direction
- Raw counts