Road Traffic In The UK Drops 73% To Levels Not Seen In 65 Years
Right now, movement in the UK is severely restricted. British citizens have been told to “only go outside for food or health reasons or travelling to and from work but only where you cannot work from home,” and as such, that’s had a dramatic effect on traffic levels.
Following the announcement of the measures on 23 March - intended to curtail the spread of Covid-19 - UK motor vehicle traffic plummeted by 73 per cent compared to the same time in February, according to Department for Transport figures.
As reported by The Guardian, these kinds of traffic levels haven’t been seen since 1955. And remember, the road network was a lot smaller then, with the first motorway not built until 1958. As a consequence, the UK’s highways will seem deathly quiet in places.
It’s the same story across all modes of transport. Rail journeys, for instance, dropped by 90 per cent, while bus journeys in London are at just 17 per cent of the normal volume.
A week on from the announcement of the new restrictions - the contravention of which could land you with a £60 fine for the first offence - traffic did increase slightly. It was down a more modest 63 per cent compared to pre-lockdown levels.
Public Health England medical director Doctor Yvonne Doyle called the increase “concerning,” reiterating the government’s message for people to “stay at home”. We’ll update this piece with the latest traffic figures when available.
It’ll be interesting to see if the drastic lifestyle changes Coronavirus has forced upon us will have a longer-term impact on traffic. Many employees and firms will be finding that, in actual fact, sticking a load of people in an expensive office building five days a week isn’t always necessary.
It wouldn’t be a surprise to see a rise in remote working even when all this is over, with this unprecedented period of modern history proving to be a big home-working experiment for a lot of companies and employees. Such a change in working habits would mean fewer commutes and quieter roads for those who do actually need to get somewhere at rush hour, and less pollution. Sounds good, no?
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
Such a change in working habits would mean fewer commutes and quieter roads for those who do actually need to get somewhere at rush hour, and less pollution. Sounds good, no?
I’m already optimistic about this. Imagine having a clear empty road for hundreds of miles. You can easily have the car cruise happily at over 100 mph on the highways… or just flooring it until you hit top speeds. Best of all, we could reach places in times never before imagined. And above all, a massive reduction in emissions too! It’s a win-win situation for everyone! :D
I don’t live in the UK, but I feel like photo radars will break your fun real quick
Record times, 100+mph speed, top speed and flooring does not really sound like essential to me. Stay at home, you stupid Covidiot.
You haven’t really thought this through have you? Stick to doing this on your PlayStation, dude.
You can’t really hit those high speeds in the U.K anymore due to the increasing amount of Scamera vans on the roads.
I think it’s good news, and this is replied worldwide
6 months ago we were all joking about how killing one person has the same impact on the climate as planting 18 million trees, and now look where we are.
Currently here in germany driving is a dream no idiots on the road just miles of open autobahn i save around 10min everyday going to work
I wonder if we can organize this to happen again so that learner drivers can get out there and use quieter times to practice driving? (gonna get a ton of downvotes :P )
All these empty roads and I can’t go out my house to enjoy them.
Typical!