This report describes the results of a 3 month scoping study, completed between April and June 2011, to explore the potential of the data collected during the British MOT (roadworthiness) test. Some updating of the findings reported here took place in December 2013. The MOT test data were first made publicly available in November 2010, with the release of over 150 million test results, with further data releases since that time. The data set is unique in providing national information about vehicle types and use at a scale which is not available from any other source. This report examines the data that have already been made available, and the various ways in which the dataset could be enhanced. It outlines a set of mathematical techniques which have been developed for initial data analysis and describes some of the results that emerge (notably, for example, the important relationship between vehicle age and vehicle use). It also reports on some of the other data sets that could be analysed in conjunction with the MOT test data, in order to explore issues relating to transport demand, energy use and climate change. Following on from this scoping study, a new research project has been developed, and the last chapter of this report describes the activities planned in that project, which will take forward the work described here. (Author/publisher)
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