Commenting on new official data that shows the extent to which traffic volumes fell during the year to September 2020, RAC data insight spokesman Rod Dennis said:

“After two decades of increasing vehicle traffic, the drop in traffic volumes we’ve seen this year is nothing if not dramatic. The million pound question now is what happens next? Will 2021 see a return to historically high levels of vehicles on the roads, or will a longer-lasting effect of the pandemic – and the economic fall-out from it – be lower numbers for the foreseeable future?

“The drop in the number of miles driven by cars in third quarter of the year to 219.9bn has not been seen since 1996 when there were just 22m cars on the road, 10m fewer than today. The Department for Transport figures also estimate that 289bn miles were driven by all vehicles from July to September which is 67bn fewer than the same period last year, a decrease of 19%. The last time all vehicles in Britain were estimated to have driven that many miles was in 2001 when there just under 30m vehicles on the road in stark contrast to the 38.3m we now have.”