Vehicle population statistics?

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Sat 2 Sep 2006 11:21
Vehicle population statistics? - Waino
Just out of interest, can anyone point me to a reference (preferably via web) that quantifies the change in number of vehicles on the road over the years?

Another thread has been discussing the possibility of 90mph on motorways and this led me to thinking about the time the M1 was being constructed through Leicestershire (late 50s IIRC) within a mile of my home village. At that time, there were only 2 or 3 families in the village who ran a car, but today cars line the main street and it is only just possible to pick your way through. Has traffic increased 50x in 50 years?

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Sat 2 Sep 2006 11:31
Vehicle population statistics? - Anglesey Ian
Hi Waine,

You might find what you're looking for here

Regards

Ian

www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product.asp?vlnk=57...8
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Sat 2 Sep 2006 11:32
Vehicle population statistics? - Altea Ego
Office of national statistics is your port of call,

www.statistics.gov.uk/STATBASE/xsdataset.asp?vlnk=...9


Its not actually the number of households that have a car thats the problem, its the number of households with more than one car thats increased. In the old days 1 family = 1 car if they were lucky,

Now its one family = two or more cars.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Sun 3 Sep 2006 15:34
Vehicle population statistics? - Waino
Thanks for the references. A generalised figure of 'more than ten times as many cars as in 1950' is quoted, but it feels like much more than that to me.

I'm sure we've become accustomed to the general increase but there are two points of reference that strike me. One is when I return home and see the cars that now line the street - from practically nothing in the 1950s; the second was when I returned to motorcycling after a 22 year break from 1976-98. These days, the roads are (most of the time) too crowded for motorcycling to be a pleasure imho.

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