England · Local authority E06000047

Driving around Durham.

Understand the wider traffic picture, discuss local driving skills and find useful next steps.

Find tuition around Durham Plan lesson costs

Population and household transport

Explore the full local-area picture

Residents aged 17–24

59,641

Mid-2025 estimate. This is an age-group count, not the number of learners.

Households without a car or van

24.1%

Census 2021. Household vehicle availability does not establish access to a practice car.

Annual traffic

2,888

Million motor-vehicle miles during 2025.

A measure of travel across this authority area, not the number of vehicles, a road’s daily flow or current congestion. DfT asks that these figures be rounded to the nearest million miles.

Reported injury collisions

438

Police-reported personal-injury collisions during 2025.

20 fatal collisions. This counts collisions, not people killed. Damage-only incidents and unreported collisions are outside this dataset.

Traffic over time

Annual million vehicle miles, rounded. Authority boundaries can change.
Year	All motor vehicles	Cars and taxis
2025	2,888	2,171
2024	2,814	2,110
2023	2,792	2,092
2022	2,701	2,010
2021	2,476	1,815
2020	2,170	1,578
2019	2,769	2,121
2018	2,681	2,038
2017	2,624	1,995
2016	2,540	1,941
2015	2,542	1,963
2014	2,475	1,919
2013	2,404	1,872
2012	2,394	1,870
2011	2,365	1,840

Road setting

Reported collisions by recorded setting, 2025
Setting	Collisions
Single carriageway	371
Roundabout	33
Dual carriageway	32
Slip road	2

Light conditions

Reported collisions by recorded setting, 2025
Setting	Collisions
Daylight	307
Darkness - lights lit	96
Darkness - no lighting	27
Darkness - lights unlit	4
Darkness - lighting unknown	4

More collisions does not automatically mean greater risk.

Traffic exposure, area size, road mix and reporting vary. These are counts, not comparable collision rates. Ask your instructor to choose practice environments suited to your current ability and current conditions.

Community and travel context

Census 2021 gives a historical picture of County Durham. These figures can help you plan the support and practical questions to discuss with an instructor.

Residents reporting a disability

22.9%

Census definition; not driving fitness.

Employed residents commuting as car/van drivers

57.4%

Census 2021, during coronavirus restrictions.

Explore language, disability and commuting figures for County Durham

Sources and matching

Traffic: DfT road traffic downloads. Collisions: DfT STATS19 2025. We match the traffic authority code to the collision’s current highway-authority code; this does not assign an instructor or test centre to that area. Local traffic estimates are less robust than regional totals. Download the source metadata and full history.