Do You Know! You Made 33 Round Trips to Pluto (in your car)

August 19, 2015

UK drivers to face very congested traffic in the future while motorists have covered 314.6 billion miles last year

UK road traffic is increasing rapidly. Department for Transport (DFT) has released the latest figures about road traffic in the UK, according to that, there are 314.6 billion miles covered by road users annually. 314.6 billion miles equate to 33 round trips from the earth to Pluto.  It is important to note that average rush hour speed is 23.8 miles per hour (mph) It is now on the official record, drivers have to face worst traffic on roads ever recorded. According to data, recorded between June 2014 and June 2015, the traffic has increased by 2.3 percent in the year. The average rush hour speed stands at 23.8mph, but it drops down to 15mph in London city. It causes minor delays. The growth of the UK economy and fall in fuel prices are two main triggers of more traffic on the UK roads. Now people are buying more cars and prefer to drive, the economy grew by 2.6 per cent in the financial year ending June 2015. The DFT has highlighted these figures in recent research. The fuel prices decreased by 12.6 pence per litre, which contributes to a significant increase in traffic volume on the UK roads. Van traffic accounts for 46.3 billion, whereas car and taxi traffic accounting to over 245 billion road miles. Light commercial vans traffic grew by 6.3 per cent, however car traffic increased by 1.7 per cent, compared to the previous year, so it seems that van drivers are enjoying the benefit of a strong economy. The department for traffic has released traffic data of the last decade, it shows total road miles covered and percentage changes in traffic trends yearly. In 2005, the total road miles covered during the year were 306.7 road miles (billion), but it grew by 0.6% in 2006 and reached 308.5 road miles (billion) In 2007 total road miles covered were 313.4 road miles (billions). There was a 1.6% increase as compared to the previous year. In 2008, there was a 0.2% increase in total road miles covered, the official figures of total road miles reached 314.1(billions) In 2009, 2010 and 2011, there was a constant decrease in road traffic. The total number of road miles covered had shown decreasing trend, the number reached 308.6, 306.1 and 302.1(billion road miles) receptively. The analysts argued, it was because of economic meltdown and fuel price hikes. However, it was observed an upward trend in 2012, had shown 303.2 as compared with 302.7 (billion) total road miles in 2011. Whereas in 2013 there was again slight decrease of total road miles covered and figure went down to 302.5(billion miles) as compared to 303.2(billion miles) in 2012 In 2014 and 2015, a continuous increasing trend has noted. As the figure reached 307.5 (billions) total road miles in 2014. It was a 1.7% increase from the previous year of 2013. Another significant increase in total road miles covered has been observed during the year 2015. There was a 2.3% increase from the previous year of 2014. The figure reached 314.6 (billions) total road miles. The DFT highlighted that it is because of economic growth of the country and fall in fuel prices. The positive sign of a strong economy, but negative for road users. Plan ahead to avoid unnecessary delays because of road traffic.