It will come as little surprise to most fleets to learn that traffic on the UK’s roads has grown by 84% since 1980.

Record levels of car ownership and usage are showing little signs of slowing.

Now nearly one-third of households have access to two or more cars, which is more than the proportion of households without access to a car.

This – and a host of other traffic and travel related statistics – can be found in the Department for Transport’s 2007 Transport Trends Edition, which was published last week.

Men are still more likely to have a driving licence but the proportion of women holding a licence has been increasing at a faster rate.

Men also made slightly fewer trips than women but travelled a much greater distance, travelling about 7,970 miles on average compared with 6,330 miles for women.

The report shows that passenger fatality rates for car crashes have more than halved since 1980.

Vehicle related thefts in England and Wales have more than halved since they peaked in the mid-1990s.