If you get as hacked off as we do when you hear someone blame trucks for the congestion we all suffer from, take heart: new figures from the DfT prove it simply isn’t true.
Vehicle licensing statistics just published by the department show there were 466,500 GB-licensed HGVs on our roads at the end of Q3 2013 – a measly 1.32% of the total 35.2 million licensed vehicles and a 9.6% drop from the peak in Q3 2007, when there were 515,600 HGVs on the road.
As you might expect, the story is markedly different for cars, which at 29.2 million accounted for almost 83% of the total in Q3 2013, having risen more than 3.9% since Q3 2007.
Light goods vehicles also increased their share of the total vehicle parc, with just over 3.36 million licensed in Q3 2013 – almost 9.6% of the total and up 7.2% since Q3 2007.
Since Q4 1994, the number of licensed cars has risen by over 8 million (37.7%) in all, while van numbers have increased by nearly 1.23 million (up over 57%) and HGVs by under 46,000 (just over 10.8%).
The needs of the many may generally outweigh the needs of the few, we know - but when it comes to dealing with the congestion and emissions produced by road transport, it’s blindingly obvious where the biggest wins can be found.