The 2003 Trunk Road Speeds Survey is the fourth in an ongoing series of such surveys which aim to monitor average weekday traffic speeds at different times of day over the entire trunk road network of England. Survey cars were driven for a total of almost 40 thousand miles, measuring average speeds and collecting other data. As well as a snapshot view of traffic speeds on the trunk roads network in 2003, this survey provides an opportunity to examine changes in speeds over time. There have been increases in average traffic speeds during the morning peak and off-peak periods on the trunk road network between 2001 and 2003. This has been the case for almost all types of road and most regions. The offpeak speeds have increased by slightly more on average than those of the morning peak. In the evening peak, speeds increased on dual carriageway Aroads but decreased on motorways, and the overall average speed in the evening peak was lower in 2003 than 2001. Looking at a longer time series, average traffic speeds decreased between 1995 and 1998 in all time periods and across all road types but increased between 1998 and 2003. Although average speeds in the off-peak period in 2003 are close to 1995 levels, average speeds in the peak periods are still lower than in 1995. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting