The possibilities of historically describing traffic mileage in Sweden in a clear and detailed way are limited, even if such estimates exist and are used for various purposes. There are, however, time series dating back to 1950 for the annual development in fuel consumption and number of registered motor vehicles on a national level. The same applies to the number of injured vehicle drivers reported by the traffic police. Otherwise, the most extensive information consists of annual estimates of traffic kilometrage on the national road network. On the basis of the latter estimates and other information, this report estimates traffic amount in Sweden expressed in vehicle kilometres for the period 1950-1997. A calculation model is described which provides the basis for annual estimates of the number of vehicle kilometres distributed among different types of vehicle and fuel. The total traffic kilometrage in Sweden in 1997 has been estimated at 66.7 +/-2 billion vehicle kilometres, compared with just over 5 billion in 1950. Of the total traffic, motorcycles amount for 0.5-0.6 billion vehicle kilometres, cars almost 57 billion, light trucks approximately 5 billion, heavy trucks just over 3 billion and buses and coaches just over 1 billion vehicle kilometres. The extent of heavy traffic has been found to be unclear since the surveys are unsatisfactory co-ordinated. Neither do they permit comparison with information on other traffic. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting