Press Notices

02.04.07:
UK among European transport leaders - but key challenges remain

Britain compares favourably with its European counterparts across a range of transport measures, a new report from the Commission for Integrated Transport revealed today.

Some five years since it unveiled the first comprehensive study of comparable transport statistics from across Europe, CfIT has now updated those original findings with a new report entitled Are We There Yet? A Comparison of Transport in Europe.

The 2007 report shows that while the UK is sometimes seen as being behind Europe on many transport measures, we have if anything improved since the first report was carried out. The new report reveals a number of UK successes, including:

• We have among the safest roads in Europe
• We have been more successful than most in reducing or limiting growth of emissions per passenger km in recent years - although given the scale of the environmental problem, there is no room for complacency
• We make more efficient use of our cars than many of our European peers
• Our freight tonnage is falling when compared to our economic growth - in contrast to the picture across mainland Europe
• Our share of rail freight is increasing while road freight volumes are static - both bucking the trend across mainland Europe
• A vibrant aviation industry in the UK.

There are however other areas in the report in which the UK could clearly do better, such as:

• Making better use of public transport (particularly buses and coaches)
• Long-term, continuous promotion of walking and cycling policies
• Reducing pedestrian fatalities
• Reducing NO_x emissions from transport
• Reducing the environmental impacts of our aviation industry.

Commission Member Andrew Sentance, who led the working group behind today's report, said:

"Personal mobility is a key feature of modern society, so transport issues can often be a source of frustration in people's lives. But when we benchmark Britain's performance against other European countries, we find that many of our key transport challenges are widely shared across Europe. In addition, the UK has some clear strengths as well as some weaknesses that need to be addressed.

"In some aspects the UK leads the way - we have among the safest roads in Europe, and, while there is still more to do, we have to date been more successful than many other nations in reducing ground transport emissions. We also tend to make more efficient use of our cars and lorries. And our aviation sector is the most highly developed in Europe - though this also raises some important environmental challenges.

"However, we also think the UK could look to examples being set by other European nations in a number of areas. Despite our healthy overall record on road safety, pedestrians are more than twice as likely to be killed in the UK as in the Netherlands or Norway; a worrying trend which has persisted since our 2001 study. We also travel less by public transport, foot and bike than many other nations. For example, each year, cyclists in Denmark and the Netherlands cycle more than ten times as far as Britons. Closing the gap could bring significant health and environmental benefits to the UK."

CfIT considered that in order to assess the UK's comparative performance accurately, it was necessary to select a group of "European peers" with broadly similar states of economic development and with broadly stable collection regimes over a long period. The 2007 report therefore compared data from the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

Among the data compared were figures on travel patterns, car ownership and travel, walking, cycling, road safety, environmental performance, freight and aviation.

Notes to editors:

1. Full copies of the report are available at: www.cfit.gov.uk/docs/2007/ebp/index.htm.
2. There are limitations on the data available for international comparison. For some indicators there will be different definitions or methods of compilation. It is not always possible for countries to supply data according to definitions required by international organizations. Currency of data is also an issue, with a significant gap between collection and reporting. For example, the majority of indicators are based upon 2003/04 data. The most recent walking and cycling data date back to 2000.
3. The Commission for Integrated Transport was set up by Government to provide it with independent advice on strategic policy issues.
4. CfIT is chaired by Peter Hendy and has 16 other Commission Members drawn from a broad spectrum of transport expertise. See www.cfit.gov.uk/about/index.htm.
5. For more information call Luke Blair on 07779 023188.