Road traffic estimates in Great Britain, 2023: Traffic in Great Britain by road type
Published 22 May 2024
Applies to England, Scotland and Wales
© Crown copyright 2024
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About this release
This release presents the 2023 annual estimates of traffic on Great Britain’s roads broken down by road type.
Please see the companion releases for an overview of the 2023 traffic estimates, a breakdown by vehicle type, a breakdown for England’s road networks.
Annual traffic statistics are compiled using data from around 8,000 roadside 12-hour manual counts, continuous data from automatic traffic counters, and data on road lengths. Please see our methodology note for more details.
The next annual traffic statistics release is expected to be published in May 2025, reporting 2024 traffic figures.
This publication includes both accredited official statistics[footnote 1] and official statistics. For more information, see the background information section.
Overview
All road types saw an increase in traffic levels during 2023 compared to 2022, and all road types saw a decrease when comparing 2023 levels to 2019.
Chart 28: Vehicle miles travelled by road type in Great Britain, 2019 to 2023
Chart 28 is a bar chart that shows that all road types saw an increase between 2022 and 2023, but remained below the 2019 pre-pandemic levels.
Motorway and ‘A’ road traffic saw the biggest rises between 2022 and 2023 (2.4% and 2.5%, respectively). Traffic for motorways and ‘A’ roads was down 0.9% and 3.1%, respectively, compared to pre-pandemic 2019 levels.
Minor roads traffic levels rose by 1.7%, between 2022 and 2023, and in 2023 were 2.2% below pre-pandemic 2019 levels.
Chart 29: Share of traffic and length by road types in Great Britain, 2023
Chart 29 is a bar chart that shows that vehicle activity is unevenly distributed across Great Britain’s road network. In 2023, 65% of the motor vehicle miles travelled were on motorways and ‘A’ roads, despite comprising only 13% of the road network by length.
Chart 30: Number of vehicles passing per 24 hours on a typical stretch of road, 2023
Chart 30 is a bar chart that shows that, on an average day in 2023, 56 times more vehicles travelled along a typical stretch of motorway than a typical stretch of a minor road (‘B’ roads, ‘C’ roads, and unclassified roads).
Motorway traffic
Definition
Motorways
Includes major roads of regional and urban strategic importance, often used for long distance travel. They are usually 3 or more lanes in each direction and generally have the maximum speed limit of 70mph.
In 2023, 69.9 billion vehicle miles were travelled on Great Britain’s motorways, an increase of 2.4% on the 2022 total. Motorway traffic in 2023 was lower than pre-pandemic levels (down by 0.9% compared to 2019).
Chart 31: Motorway miles in Great Britain, 2013 to 2023
Chart 31 is a bar chart that shows that motor vehicle miles travelled on motorways in Great Britain saw year-on-year growth in each year between 2013 and 2019. This was followed by a sharp decline in 2020 and then increases in 2021 and 2022. Traffic levels between 2022 and 2023 increased by 2.4%. 2023 levels remain lower than the 2019 pre-pandemic levels.
Chart 32: Motorway miles by vehicle type in Great Britain, 2019 to 2023
Chart 32 is a bar chart that shows that traffic levels on motorways for cars, vans and other vehicles (motorcycles and buses and coaches) increased between 2022 and 2023, while traffic for lorries decreased.
Between 2022 and 2023, car traffic increased by 3.3% on Great Britain’s motorways roads to 48.5 billion vehicle miles. Van traffic rose by 1.6% to 13.0 billion vehicle miles, and lorry traffic fell -1.8% to 8.1 billion vehicle miles.
Compared to 2019 motorway traffic levels, cars and other vehicles remain below pre-pandemic levels, whereas traffic for vans was above pre-pandemic levels. Motorway traffic for lorries was broadly similar.
Motorways are generally the busiest roads. The road link with the highest average daily traffic flows in 2023 was a section of the M25.
5 busiest road sections
Vehicles per day in 2023 (rounded figures)
1. M25 - junction 14 to 15: 209,000
2. M25 - junction 16 to 15: 206,000
3. M25 - junction 13 to 14: 205,000
4. M60 - junction 13 to 12: 196,000
5. M25 - junction 12 to 13: 195,000
‘A’ road traffic
Definition
‘A’ Roads
Includes both principal and trunk ‘A’ roads. They are often described as the ‘main’ roads and tend to have heavy traffic flows, though not as high as motorways.
In 2023, 145.6 billion vehicle miles were travelled on Great Britain’s ‘A’ roads, an increase of 2.5% on the 2022 total. Compared to 2019, ‘A’ road traffic was 3.1% lower in 2023.
Chart 33: ‘A’ road miles in Great Britain, 2013 to 2023
Chart 33 is a bar chart that shows that motor vehicle miles travelled on ‘A’ roads in Great Britain saw year-on-year growth in each year between 2013 and 2019. This was followed by a sharp decline in 2020 and then increases in 2021 and 2022. Traffic levels between 2022 and 2023 increased by 2.5% on ‘A’ roads.
Chart 34: ‘A’ road miles by vehicle type in Great Britain, 2019 to 2023
Chart 34 is a bar chart that shows that traffic levels on ‘A’ roads increased for cars, vans and other vehicles between 2022 and 2023.
Between 2022 and 2023, car traffic increased by 3.3% on Great Britain’s ‘A’ roads to 111.6 billion vehicle miles, van traffic rose by 1.0% to 24.3 billion vehicle miles, and lorry traffic fell 2.7% to 7.6 billion vehicle miles. Other vehicles increased by 0.9%.
Compared to pre-pandemic 2019 levels, 2023 traffic for cars, lorries and other vehicles remained lower, whereas traffic for vans was above 2019 levels.
Minor road traffic
Definition
Minor roads
Includes ‘B’ and ‘C’ classified roads and unclassified roads (all of which are maintained by local authorities). Private roads are not included.
In 2023, 115.4 billion vehicle miles were travelled on Great Britain’s minor roads, an increase of 1.7% on the 2022 total. Compared to 2019, minor road traffic was 2.2% lower in 2023.
Chart 35: Minor road miles in Great Britain, 2013 to 2023
Chart 35 is a bar chart that shows that motor vehicle miles travelled on minor roads in Great Britain generally saw year-on-year growth in each year between 2013 and 2019. This was followed by a sharp decline in 2020 and then increases in 2021 and 2022. Traffic levels in 2023 were 1.7% above 2022.
Chart 36: Minor road miles by vehicle type in Great Britain, 2019 to 2023
Chart 36 is a bar chart that shows that traffic levels on Great Britain’s minor roads increased for cars between 2022 and 2023, whereas traffic for vans, lorries and other vehicles (motorcycles and buses and coaches) decreased.
Between 2022 and 2023, car traffic on minor roads increased by 2.5% to 91.2 billion vehicle miles, whilst van traffic decreased by 0.8% to 20.4 billion vehicle miles and lorry traffic on minor roads decreased by 5.7% to 1.3 billion vehicle miles. Other vehicles also saw a 2.0% reduction.
Compared to pre-pandemic 2019 levels, 2023 traffic on Great Britain’s minor roads for cars and lorries remained lower. Traffic levels for vans were similar to 2019.
Background information
Annual estimates make use of data from around 8,000 manual traffic counts in addition to continuous data from a national network of automatic traffic counters (ATCs). These data sources produce accurate estimates on traffic levels in Great Britain by vehicle type and by road type.
This publication is a compendium of both accredited official statistics[footnote 1] and official statistics. The type of statistics presented is detailed below.
- Accredited official statistics: National and regional road traffic estimates and flow estimates
(Datasets: TRA0101 to TRA0106, TRA0202 to TRA0206, TRA0301 to TRA0303, TRA0401 to TRA0413, TRA3105, TRA4101 to TRA4116, TRA4201 to TRA4216)
These official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in February 2013. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled ‘accredited official statistics’.
- Other official statistics: Temporal road traffic estimates
(Datasets: TRA0305 to TRA0308)
Traffic temporal distributions are not as robust, as they are based on only the ATC data, and must be treated with caution. These statistics are official statistics. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality, and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics.
- Other official statistics: Static road network road traffic estimates
(Datasets: TRA4201 to TRA4216)
Traffic estimates based on a static road management status were developed after the last review of these statistics. These statistics are official statistics. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality, and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics.
- Other official statistics: Local authority road traffic estimates
(Datasets: TRA8901 to TRA8907)
Traffic at this level is not as robust, due to the sample size of the minor road data, and must be treated with caution. These statistics are official statistics. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality, and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics.
Further information about these statistics is available, including:
- a detailed explanation of the methodology used to produce DfT road traffic statistics can be found online in the annual road traffic estimates: methodology note
- notes and definitions for the road traffic statistics
- the data tables, which give further detail of the key results presented in this statistical release
- a geographical website that allows users to view and download estimated traffic flows on every link of the ‘A’ road and motorway network in Great Britain
Details of ministers and officials who receive pre-release access to these statistics up to 24 hours before release can be found on the pre-release access page.
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Contact details
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