32 billion miles travelled

25th September 2020

Traffic in Yorkshire & the Humber by vehicle — Traffic by vehicle type (click to enlarge)

Traffic in Yorkshire & the Humber has risen dramatically over the last 20 years, from 23.9 billion miles in 1999 to 31.7 billion miles in 2019. The information comes from the DfT's Road Traffic Statistics page.

One chart (above) shows the increases by vehicle type. There were notable increases in the miles covered by vans (LCVs), up 81%, and cars and taxis, up 29%.

A second chart shows increases by road type.

Yorkshire traffic by road type — Traffic by road type (click to enlarge)

From 1999 to 2019, the changes were as follows:

on minor roads from 6.8 billion miles to 10.4 billion miles
on B-roads from 1.7 billion miles to 2.5 billion miles
on A-roads from 10.4 billion miles to 11 billion miles
on motorways from 5 billion miles to 7.7 billion miles

B-roads are largely no-go areas for many cyclists, and the increase in traffic makes that situation worse. Many of us seek out minor roads as much as possible when planning our routes, but the huge increase in traffic on C and unclassified roads is a big concern.