High Level Summary of Statistics Trend Last update: Monday, September 28, 2009
Road Traffic
The total volume of traffic on Scotland's roads was 44,470 million vehicle-kilometres in 2008 - a decrease of 0.4 per cent on 2007.
Motorways accounted for 15 per cent of all traffic in 2008, trunk A roads for 22 per cent, local authority A roads for 28 per cent, B roads for 9 per cent, C roads for 6 per cent and unclassified roads for 20 per cent.
Cars accounted for 77 per cent of the traffic on Scotland's roads in 2008, light goods vehicles for 14 per cent, heavy goods vehicles for 6 per cent, buses for 1.4 per cent, motorcycles for 0.7 per cent and pedal cycles for 0.6 per cent.
Traffic volume on Scotland's roads has tended to increase steadily - an overall increase of 18 per cent since 1996 The slight dip in 2000 was due to the fuel price protests. The volume of traffic on Motorways has grown by 46 per cent since 1996, in part due to the expansion of the Motorway network.
Estimates for major roads (Motorways and A roads) show the volume of traffic on major roads has doubled between 1983 and 2008 - growth being more rapid for Motorways than for A roads (due in part to the expansion of the Motorway network).
View chart data
Source: Scottish Transport Statistics
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