Did You Know?
Last updated: 23/10/2006 - 16:37
The average Brit travels over 6,800 miles a year. Read more fascinating facts about British motorists.
British people certainly love their cars - there were 24 million of them on the road last year, travelling over 6,800 miles.
Unsurprisingly, we use a lot of fuel. Average petrol consumption for cars last year was about 30 mpg (10 litres/100km). In contrast, diesel cars averaged 39 mpg (7 litres/100km). Transportation consumed a whopping 55 million tonnes of oil equivalent last year - 34% of all UK energy use.
The proportion of UK households without access to a car has declined by 6% over the past decade. Taxi use has grown by 47% in the past ten years. There were 4.3 billion passenger journeys on local bus services in 1999/00, yet 45% of households own one car and 28% now have two or more cars, compared with 23% ten years ago.
There are more women on the roads than ever before. Licence holding among women increased from 49% in 1989/91 to 60% in 1998/2000. Overall, 82% of men hold licences.
Traffic and Accidents
With an increasing number of motors on the road, comes traffic and accidents. Motorways in Great Britain, (which account for less than 1% of total road length) carried 20% of total traffic and 42% of goods vehicle traffic. Nearly half of articulated goods vehicle traffic was on motorways.
Sadly the number of pedal cycle traffic on the road fell by 2% between 1999 and 2000 after a rise of 5% in the previous year. Part of the reason for the fall blamed on wet weather in this year. It's not all bad news, however, the number of people killed or seriously injured on the roads fell again in 2000, to a level 37% below that in 1990.
This information comes from the new 27th edition of the compendium of transport statistics for Great Britain. The publication brings together the majority of National Statistics produced by Department of Transport, Local government and Regions (DTLR).
More information available in Vehicle Hire, Commuting