Mike Waters' blog: 6 April - Time wasters

Date: 06 April 2016

Mike Waters is senior insight & consultancy manager at Arval, the leading vehicle leasing and fleet management company

I talk a lot about journey planning, and it remains really important, especially with traffic levels growing. However, with more vehicles on the roads and the need for many to travel at peak times, it's almost impossible to circumnavigate delays altogether.

Car traffic increased by 1.7% to 248 billion vehicle miles while van traffic continued to rise faster than any other vehicle type, increasing by 6.1% to a new peak of 47 billion vehicle miles. It also seems that traffic volumes are an issue regardless of the type of roads that you use. Motorway traffic increased by 2.4% (to the highest ever level), but minor rural road traffic increased the most of any road type, increasing 5.2%.

We are more aware than ever of the things we can do to help the problem.  Positive trends in the use of video conferencing and car sharing are good examples; while we are also encouraged on a daily basis to make use of public transport. All worthy initiatives, but none will make a huge difference without the underpinning support of government investment in our road infrastructure. They have pledged a hefty chunk of budget for just this, now they need to make sure that they spend it in the right places.

What these figures reinforce is the importance of cars, vans and trucks for business and personal mobility - especially in strong and stable economic conditions. There are clearly other options at our disposal but our own four wheels remain the first choice for most of us - although that doesn't change the fact that we all waste a lot of time behind the wheel.

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