Commercial vehicle traffic rising back to pre-COVID levels

According to new data released by the Department for Transport (DfT), van and lorry traffic increased by 25.2% and 10.1%, respectively, from March 2021 to March 2022, with all motor vehicles travelling 318.6 billion vehicle miles in Great Britain for the year ending March 2022 – an increase of 29.7%.

Car traffic has increased by a third (32.9%) to 237.5 billion vehicle miles year-on-year, but is down on pre-pandemic levels. Car traffic rolling annual estimates remain lower than those for before the pandemic – down 9.6% when compared to the year ending December 2019.

Prior to the pandemic, car and taxi traffic increased by 5.7% between 2015 and 2019.

Van traffic, however, was higher than levels seen before the pandemic – up 9.9% when compared to the year ending December 2019.

Prior to the pandemic, van traffic increased by 11.8% between 2015 and 2019.

Lorry traffic, meanwhile, was slightly higher than before the pandemic – up 3.2% when compared to the year ending December 2019.

Prior to the pandemic, lorry traffic increased by 2.6% between 2015 and 2019.

According to RAC head of roads policy Nicholas Lyes, “Traffic volumes appear to still be below pre-pandemic levels with flexible working patterns that have become commonplace across the UK likely to be a major factor.

“Nonetheless, the trend is upwards, especially so for vans and HGVs – both of which show higher traffic volumes than prior to the pandemic.

“Therefore, it remains vitally important that the Government continues to invest in improving our road network to increase capacity.”