Road traffic in Scotland shows no sign of slowing

The volume of traffic last year increased by 1% on 2002 and is now 18% up on 1993 levels.

Motorways have seen the biggest increase, with a rise in traffic of 34% since 1993.

The total volume of traffic on Scotland's roads in 2003 was estimated by officials to be about 42 billion "vehicle kilometres".

The annual transport statistics for Scotland also showed there were some 2.4 million motor vehicles registered in Scotland during 2003, 27% more than in 1993 and the highest number on record.

Congestion problem

The number of new vehicles registered last year was also a record at 262,400, about 3,000 more than the previous year and 54% more than in 1993.

But there were also signs that more people were using public transport, with the number of individual bus passenger journeys increasing by 1% compared with 2002.

Our biggest challenge continues to be in the increasing use of our roads Scottish Executive

This was only the sixth annual increase since records began in 1975 and was the fourth successive annual increase.

But the figure for bus travel was still 16% down on 1993.

The number of rail journeys increased by 9% but officials said this reflected a recovery from the effects of an earlier drivers' pay dispute.

And the boom in cheap air travel was reflected in the 21 million passengers who passed through Scotland's airports - 7% up on the previous year, 90% up on 1993, and the highest number ever recorded.

The executive said the figures showed that investment in public transport and the work being done to make it more attractive were paying off.

"Our biggest challenge continues to be in the increasing use of our roads," said an executive spokeswoman.

"A 1% increase in road traffic since 2002 demonstrates the urgent need to tackle congestion by giving people the choice to move to public transport where they can.

'Vehicle omissions'

"There is an encouraging increase in both bus and rail use and we hope to develop this by putting more than 70% of our investment in public transport by 2006."

The Scottish Greens accused ministers of failing to offer a viable transport strategy.

Transport spokesman Chris Ballance said: "Ministers have committed to reducing traffic levels to 2001 levels by 2021 but they have no strategy, no plans in place to achieve this, no interim targets, and no obligation to report on progress towards any targets.

"Only last week, at the site of the landslip in Perthshire, the transport minister saw for himself the devastation and chaos that climate-changing vehicle emissions cause.