'No feasible alternative to the car' - borough traffic levels cause concern

Traffic levels on South Tyneside's road network top 500 million miles, new figures show.

- by Gazette Reporter

New figures from the Department for Transport (DfT) show drivers in the borough covered a staggering 511 million miles on council-maintained roads during 2024.

Although this was slightly less than the 512m recorded a year earlier, it is above the 483m in 2019, the last year before the Covid lockdown caused a dramatic fall in traffic.

The figures come despite the Government and North East Combined Authority making major efforts to improve public transport networks-aimed at easing pressure on overcrowded roads and easing the environmental impact of road traffic.

Nationally, 293 billion miles were covered on the roads-down from the 299 billion a year earlier, and also down on the 313 billion recorded in 2019.

Earlier DfT data shows four people were killed and 215 were hurt in road accidents in South Tyneside last year.