A1) There were about 34.2 million vehicles licensed for use on the roads in Great Britain on 31 December 2011. Of these vehicles, about 28.5 million were cars. The number of cars has risen from 25 million in September 2001.

Source: Vehicle Licensing Statistics 2011

Historical details about the number of licensed vehicles can be viewed here.

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A2) New car demand totalled 1,941,253 units in 2011, down 4.4% on 2010.

Source: Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders - New Car Registrations

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A3) In 2011, UK car manufacturing was 1,343,810 vehicles. This was a 5.8% increase from 2010.

121,312 commercial vehicles were also manufactured, a fall of 1.4% from 2010.

80% of UK-made cars and commercial vehicles were exported.

Source: Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders - UK Automotive Manufacturing 2011

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A4) On 31 December 2011, the total number of driving licences registered with DVLA was 44,591,152. Of these, 37,492,839 were Full Driving Entitlement Licences and 7,098,313 million were Provisional Entitlement Licences.

The National Travel Survey estimated that in 2010, 73 per cent of all adults aged 17 and over (an estimated 35.3 million people) held a full car driving licence, compared with 69 per cent (30.3 million) in 1995/1997. See table NTS 0201

It should be noted that the NTS data is collected via face to face interviews and completion of a travel diary. The difference between the NTS estimates and the DVLA figure can also be explained by the fact that the DVLA data includes details of people who have died, emigrated etc and who have not been removed from the DVLA database.

The National Travel Survey also estimated that 66 per cent of women in 2010 held licences, compared with 80 per cent of men. The proportion of women holding licences has grown steadily in recent years while the proportion of men holding a licence has remained fairly stable, causing the gap in licence holding between men and women to narrow over time.

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A5) About 75 per cent.

25 per cent of households in Great Britain do not have access to a car. This figure fell from 38 per cent in 1985/86, to 30 per cent in 1995/97, and to 25 per cent in 2005. It has remained at this level up to 2010.

The proportion of households with two or more cars has increased from 17 per cent in 1985/1986 to 25 per cent in 1995/97 and to 33 per cent in 2010. Since around 2000, there have been more households with two or more cars than households with no car.

Source: National Travel Survey 2010: Driver licence holding and vehicle availability

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A6) The RAC Foundation issued a report in April 2009 entitled “The Car in British Society” that showed that the dominance of the car as a mode of transport in the early years of the 21st Century is absolute and that policy makers must recognise this fact as they introduce measures to cut traffic and hence ease congestion and fight climate change.

The car dominates most people’s daily travel. Trips by car (as a driver or passenger) accounted for 64 per cent of all trips made and 78 per cent distance travelled in 2010. Even among the bottom income quintile cars are used for 48 per cent of daily trips, accounting for about two-thirds of mileage.

Source: National Travel Survey 2010: Travel by car availability, income, ethnic group, household type and NS -SEC

Car use (both as driver and passenger) accounts for only 8 per cent of the trips under half a mile in length but rises to 76 per cent of all trips in the 2 – 3 mile band and 80 per cent of trips longer than five miles in length; above one mile, more than half of all trips are by car.

The Commission for Integrated Transport noted in its Report “Medium-length Trip Patterns” that 42 per cent of car mileage was driven on medium-length car trips (defined as 5 – 25 miles).

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A7) In 2010, the estimated annual average mileage per car was 8,430. The average company-owned car travelled more than twice as far as the average privately owned car (19,190 miles and 7,910 miles respectively).

Source: National Travel Survey 2010: Vehicles

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A8) Motor vehicle traffic volume in 2010 was 303.2 billion vehicle miles, down by 4.9 billion vehicle miles from 2009.

This 1.6 per cent reduction follows a 0.9 per cent year on year fall between 2008 and 2009 and a 1.0 per cent fall between 2007 and 2008. Motor vehicle traffic has fallen for three consecutive years for the first time since records began in 1949. However, traffic levels in 2010 were 4.7 per cent higher than in 2000.

Source: Annual Road Traffic Estimates 2010 (Revised)

The latest provisional annual estimates show that in 2011, the overall motor vehicle traffic volume in Great Britain was 0.9 per cent higher than in 2010, at 305.8 billion vehicle miles.

Source: Quarterly Road Traffic Estimates: Q4 2011

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A9) Despite the traffic estimates for 2008 to 2010 showing declines in overall traffic growth, the Department for Transport's latest forecasts suggest that the longer term trend of continual growth will resume. The 2011 Road Transport Forecasts (based on the National Transport Model data and the first update since 2009) suggest that in 2035, English total motor vehicle traffic will be 44 per cent higher than in 2010. This represents an increase in vehicle miles from 261.2 bn in 2010 to 375.6bn in 2035. The greatest growth forecast is in light van traffic, which is predicted to be 88 per cent higher than in 2010.

As traffic demand increases, congestion is also forecast to rise, with seconds per mile lost due to congestion rising from 19.2 seconds in 2010 to 32.3 seconds in 2035.

Journey times are also forecast to increase, with an average mile taking around 1 minute 54 seconds in 2010 but 2 minutes 6 seconds in 2035.

Source: Road Transport Forecasts 2011

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A10) The total road length in Great Britain in 2010 was estimated to be 245.0 thousand miles. Estimated road length in Great Britain has increased by around 2.5 thousand miles (1.0 per cent) in the decade since 2000.

The length of motorways in Great Britain in 2010 was estimated to be 2.2 thousand miles, which represents an increase of 2.6 per cent since 2000. The length of "A" roads in Great Britain has increased by 0.2 per cent since 2000, to an estimated 29.0 thousand miles in 2010.

The majority of road lengths in Great Britain is made up of minor roads, with these roads accounting for 213.7 thousand miles in 2010 (87.3 per cent of all roads). This represents a 1.1 per cent increase since 2000.

Source: Road Lengths 2010

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A11) In 2010, 20.1 per cent of traffic was carried on motorways; 28.7 per cent on rural "A" roads; 16.3 per cent on urban "A" roads; 14.0 per cent on rural minor roads; and 20.9 per cent on urban minor roads.

Despite accounting for only 12.7 per cent of road lengths in 2010, major roads (motorways and "A" roads) accounted for 65.1 per cent of road traffic.

Source: Annual Road Traffic Estimates 2010 (Revised)

The latest provisional figures for 2011 show that 20.2 per cent of traffic was on motorways, with 28.5 per cent on rural "A" roads and 16.3 per cent on urban "A" roads. 35.0 per cent of traffic was on minor roads.

Source: Quarterly Road Traffic Estimates: Q4 2011

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A12) Car traffic accounted for 79.1 per cent of all traffic in 2010, with light van and heavy goods vehicle traffic accounting for 13.5 per cent and 5.4 per cent respectively.

Source: Annual Road Traffic Estimates 2010 (Revised)

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A13) Motor vehicle flow statistics give an indication of how busy roads in Great Britain are rather than volume of miles travelled on the road network.

Motorways had the highest average traffic flow in 2010 with 75.6 thousand vehicles for each mile of motorway per day. The average traffic flow on urban "A" roads was 19.6 thousand vehicles for each mile of urban "A" road per day and traffic flows on rural "A" roads were 10.8 thousand vehicles for each mile of rural "A" road per day. Minor road average traffic flow was 1.4 thousand vehicles per mile of minor road for each day in 2010.

In 2010, on average, major roads in Great Britain had 12 times the flow of minor roads.

Source: Annual Road Traffic Estimates 2010 (Revised)

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A14) In 2010, the average free flow speed of cars travelling on non-built-up roads was 69 mph on motorways, 68 mph on dual carriageways and 47 mph on single carriageways. The average free flow speed of cars in 2010 on roads with a 40 mph speed limit was 35 mph and on roads with a 30 mph limit it was 30 mph.

On motorways in 2010, 49 per cent of cars exceeded the 70 mph speed limit. In addition, 14 per cent of cars were recorded as travelling at 80 mph or faster. Very few heavy goods vehicles exceeded their speed limit of 60 mph on motorways. However, over 83 per cent of them exceeded the 50 mph speed limit on dual carriageway non-built-up roads and 69 per cent exceeded the 40 mph limit on single carriageway non-built-up roads.

Source: Free Flow Vehicle Speeds in Great Britain 2010

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A15) In 2010, 0.4 per cent of traffic on British roads was estimated to be foreign registered. This means that about 1 in every 229 miles driven in Great Britain was driven by a foreign registered vehicle.

Source: Annual Road Traffic Estimates 2010 (Revised)

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A16) The Highways Agency is an Executive Agency of the Department for Transport and is responsible for the construction and maintenance of motorways and major trunk roads in England. This is the strategic network of roads used to move people and freight around the country.

A map of the Agency's network can be found here.

In Scotland a similar responsibility falls on Transport Scotland, and in Wales, the Welsh Assembly Government.

Other roads are managed by local authorities.

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A17) The 2012 Annual Local Road Maintenance (ALARM) Survey - compiled by the Asphalt Industry Alliance - showed that about 1.7 million potholes were filled in across England and Wales in 2011. Whilst this represents a 21 per cent decrease on the previous year, the average number of potholes filled by authorities in England is still 27 per cent more than the number two years previously. The cost of filling in these potholes was over £89.9 million.

£21.3 million was paid out in road user compensation claims and more than 49,000 staff days were spent handling these claims.

The report estimates that to clear the maintenance backlog will take 11 years in England (excluding London), 9 years in London and 17 years in Wales.

If you want to report a pothole you can either go straight to the authority responsible for the road (most now have an electronic or web-based system available to the public to report potholes and highway faults) or visit http://www.fixmystreet.com/

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A18) The Blue Badge Scheme is designed to assist people with severe mobility problems, registered blind people and people who drive a motor vehicle regularly and have a severe disability in both arms, making it very difficult or impossible to operate parking meters, to park close to where they need to go.

Full details of the Scheme, including the eligibilty criteria and where to apply for a badge, can be viewed here.

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A19) The estimated number of Blue Badges held on 31 March 2011 was 2.56 million. Further details can be viewed here.

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A20) Manual and powered wheelchairs and mobility scooters are medical devices for those who cannot walk or who have difficulty walking. In law you will still find them called 'invalid carriages'.

There are three types of 'invalid carriage' defined in 'The Use of Invalid Carriages on Highways Regulations 1988':
• Class 1 - manual wheelchairs, i.e. self-propelled or attendant-propelled, not electrically powered;
• Class 2 - powered wheelchairs and mobility scooters, intended for footpath or pavement use only with a maximum speed limit of 4 mph;
• Class 3 - powered wheelchairs and mobility scooters, for use on the road, with a maximum speed limit of 8 mph but with the facility to travel at 4 mph on a footpath or pavement.

Some other types of small electrically powered vehicles such as golf buggies look similar to mobility scooters. They are not 'invalid carriages' within the meaning of the 1988 Regulations. It may be illegal to use them on the public highway.

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A21) Yes. The Department for Transport has issued guidance on the use of mobilty vehicles. The guidance can be viewed here.

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