Coronavirus: Private and Commercial transport

[KeithW]

I'm not trawling through 22 pages to see if this has been asked before but has there been any estimate made as to when national traffic flows have been as low as they currently are?

I'd hazard a guess that we're possibly looking at WW2 levels.

There was actually a LOT of traffic around during WW2 most of it military. An infantry Division could have as many as 5000 vehicles ranging from motorcycles for messengers through staff cars , tracked carriers, armoured vehicles, to the Bedford QL truck over 50.000 of which were built. By 1944 a division at full strength had a manpower level of 18,000 men and it was fully mechanised by 1939

My father told that when the 50th (Tyne Tees Divsion) was moving to the south coast for D-Day it took half a day to pass a given point. Transporting the British, Canadian and US forces from their depots to the invasion potys made bank holiday traffic look light. The standing joke at the time was that the only thing preventing Southern England sinking was the barrage balloons

The list below only includes British built WW2 vehicles, large numbers of Lend Lease vehicles were also supplied from the USA.

Armoured personnel carriers
Universal carrier (84,120)
Loyd Carrier (26,000)
Terrapin (200), an amphibious vehicle

Armoured cars
AEC Armoured Car (629)
Daimler Armoured Car (2,694)
Daimler Scout Car (Dingo) (6,626)
Guy Armoured Car (101)
Humber Armoured Car (5,400)
Humber Light Reconnaissance Car (over 3,600)
Humber Scout Car (at least 4,102)
Lanchester Armoured Car (35)
Lynx Canadian version of Daimler Dingo
Morris Light Reconnaissance Car (over 2,200)
Morris CS9 (100)
Standard Beaverette (~2,800)

Lorries
AEC Armoured Command Vehicle (415)
Albion WD.CX24 Tank Transporter
Austin K2/Y Ambulance. (13,102)
Austin K3
Austin K4
Austin K4 Dropside
Austin K5
Austin K6 GS
Austin K6 Gantry
Bedford MW
Bedford OXA Armoured
Bedford OXC Semi-trailer
Bedford OXD GS
Bedford OYC Tanker
Bedford OYD GS
Bedford QLB Bofors.
Bedford QLD GS.
Bedford QLR/QLC Radio/communications.
Bedford QLT Troop carrier.
Crossley Q-Type.
GMC DUKW six-wheel-drive amphibious truck
Guy Ant
Guy Lizard Armoured Command Vehicle
Humber FWD
Karrier K6
Leyland Hippo Mk II
Morris 15cwt
Morris ML Ambulance
Morris C8 GS
Morris Commercial CD series.
Morris Commercial CS8.
Morris Commercial 8x8 GS Terrapin amphibious truck
Scammell Pioneer Semi-trailer SV1S and SV2S (~500)

We tend to think of the German Army as being a mechanised force but most of their transport vehicles were horse drawn. To give an example when they prepared to break out of the landing area in France 21st Army Group had 152,499 vehicles in a lodgement area just 20 miles (32 km) wide and 10 miles (16 km) deep. This is why the Mulberry harbours were built, trucks could drive straight off a landing ship onto the harbour and drive off. They were the first RoRo channel ferries.

Army engineers fixed potholes, built bypasses around villages with narrow streets and built additional bridges to keep the supplies moving. After the end of the war my dad spent the next 2 years repairing roads in Germany including Autobahns before being demobbed in late 1947.

[Initiation]

Some nice graphs here on transport usage. 'All motor vehicle' usage down to 5-10% of the value it was a month ago.

https://twitter.com/nickeardleybbc/stat ... 77186?s=19

[owen b]

I'm not trawling through 22 pages to see if this has been asked before but has there been any estimate made as to when national traffic flows have been as low as they currently are?

I'd hazard a guess that we're possibly looking at WW2 levels.

The roads were virtually deserted on the day of Lady Diana's funeral. I remember it well as a family member got married that day and I drove over to Suffolk taking the B roads through silent villages.

Roads near me in Luton seemed to be even quieter this evening rush hour than last week judging from my daily walk. Famous last words but adherence seems very good so far, and I've been pleasantly surprised anecdotally from the amount of people who are able to work from home.

[Simon_GNR]

In England the roads must have been pretty deserted on the afternoon of Saturday 30th July 1966, the day England won the World Cup. I was around at the time but have no memories of the day, being only two years old.

[someone]

In England the roads must have been pretty deserted on the afternoon of Saturday 30th July 1966, the day England won the World Cup. I was around at the time but have no memories of the day, being only two years old.

Hmm. I suppose I now have a reason to support a soccer team.

My biggest mistake last year was having a day out at the same time as the final day of the third Ashes test. I had been listening to it, so ended up spending an hour sitting in a lay-by on the A5 somewhere north of Towcester as it would have been dangerous to continue riding.

[cb a1]

I'm not trawling through 22 pages to see if this has been asked before but has there been any estimate made as to when national traffic flows have been as low as they currently are?

For Scottish Trunk Roads (on weekdays) it's similar levels to the early 1960s.

[Barkstar]

Just retrieved my Alfa from Penrith - No sign of checkpoints yet. Between Jct 40 at Penrith and Preston I saw four other cars heading south. Plenty of HGVs and a few white vans. So quiet I had the cruise control on from Penrith to the southern end of the M61 at Worsley

[A320Driver]

These were all taken yesterday and the day before. Who can guess where?
1.

2.

[A320Driver]

3.

4.

[Truvelo]

One of those junctions is 4 miles from here. I won't ruin it and let someone else give the answer.

Another is a single digit trunk road just southwest of a motorway junction which is due to be rebuilt to exactly the same pathetic design but just a little bigger

[Peter350]

One of those junctions is 4 miles from here. I won't ruin it and let someone else give the answer.

Another is a single digit trunk road just southwest of a motorway junction which is due to be rebuilt to exactly the same pathetic design but just a little bigger

You've kind of given the game away. There are only two single digit A-roads in Britain that head in a southwesterly direction, and of those, only one has a significant stretch of dual carriageway.

[PhilC]

I ventured out yesterday to pick some prescriptions up. It was the first time I'd been out for a fortnight. There was more traffic than I expected and a lot more dog walkers than I usually see. My route takes me through a local shopping centre where there is a Morrisons, Iceland, Aldi, Farm Foods and Wilko's. All were open, but everything else appeared shut. I made the mistake of letting a bus pull out from a bus stop. It was obviously running very early, trundling along at about 15mph holding everyone up.

[RichardA626]

I went out shopping this morning, I would say everywhere was probably at least half as empty as normal.

[AndyB]

First drive to work in two weeks. Quieter than a Sunday.

[trickstat]

First drive to work in two weeks. Quieter than a Sunday.

I would say that the traffic near me is roughly similar to about 8 on a Sunday morning long before any shops are open.

[Helvellyn]

The A6 near me doesn't sound particularly quiet. A very significant proportion of the traffic on it is lorries.

[Dave908]

My commute has reduced from 22 to 30 minutes to between 15 and 18 minutes when I need to go into the office - when I don't, it's a 10 second walk to my living room

It's definitely quieter on the roads near me, but I work on an industrial estate which is just as busy as ever.

The fuel economy of my car has definitely improved as well. I've gone from getting between 35 to 37mpg on average, to between 38.5 and 41mpg.

[Piatkow]

My commute has reduced from 22 to 30 minutes to between 15 and 18 minutes when I need to go into the office - when I don't, it's a 10 second walk to my living room

It's definitely quieter on the roads near me, but I work on an industrial estate which is just as busy as ever.

The fuel economy of my car has definitely improved as well. I've gone from getting between 35 to 37mpg on average, to between 38.5 and 41mpg.

The economy on mine, on the other hand, is way down as I am only using it for short shopping trips that would normally be made by bus. Not too bad in the grand scheme of thing as I will drive just under 6 miles this week and am only doing that much driving as I have to make a second trip to collect a prescription.

[trickstat]

On my daily constitutional today, I briefly thought that there was a surprising amount of traffic about, until I realised that it was 5:40 PM and I was looking at the main road in and out of town. This often is barely moving at that time of day on a normal weekday.

[roadtester]

The government is publishing data on this.

Today, they announced that there has been an uptick in the last few days after traffic levels had been in decline for weeks:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... ailymailUK