Small share of foreign vehicles on Norwegian roads

Norwegian and foreign vehicles were driven a total of 43.8 billion kilometres on Norwegian roads in 2009, a combined distance which is almost equal to 150 trips to the sun and back. Foreign vehicles only contributed about 1.3 per cent of the total Norwegian road traffic volumes in 2009, according to new estimates by Statistics Norway.

Large share of foreign lorries and motor coaches

The share of driving performed by foreign vehicles was about one per cent for light vehicles such as passenger cars and vans in 2009. For larger vehicles such as lorries, road tractors and motor coaches, the share of driving performed by foreign vehicles was about six per cent. The share of driving performed by foreign vehicles was 2.3 per cent for all road goods vehicles combined.

Passenger cars dominate in traffic

Norwegian and foreign passenger cars were driven a total of 32.6 billion kilometres on Norwegian roads in 2009, which amounted to 73 per cent of the total road traffic volumes in Norway. Light and heavy road goods vehicles performed 21 per cent of the total driving on Norwegian roads in 2009, while buses and motor coaches only contributed about 1 per cent of the total driving distances. Three quarters of the road traffic volumes performed by road goods vehicles in 2009 were done with vans or lorries with a gross vehicle weight of 3.5 tonnes or less. The remaining quarter was performed by road tractors and lorries with a gross vehicle weight of more than 3.5 tonnes.

500 metres by bike every day

Motorcycles and mopeds contributed about 3 per cent of the total road traffic volume in Norway in 2009, and were driven a total of 1.2 billion kilometres. On the basis of data from the national travel survey, Statistics Norway has estimated that bicycles were ridden a total of 718 million kilometres on Norwegian roads in 2009. This is equal to every citizen over the age of 12 riding his or her bike close to 500 metres on a public road every day.

Most driving done outside built-up areas

21 per cent of the driving in Norway in 2009 was done on motorways. About 30 per cent of the total driving was done on other roads inside built-up areas, while 49 per cent was done on other roads outside built-up areas. Large vehicles such as road tractors, heavy lorries, buses and motor coaches are driven somewhat more on motorways and other roads outside built-up areas than passenger cars and light goods vehicles. However, these differences in driving patterns are relatively small between the vehicle groups.

Small share of other fuels

More than half of the total road traffic volumes in Norway in 2009 were performed by diesel-powered vehicles. With that, the Norwegian diesel-powered vehicles were driven longer than the vehicles powered by petrol or other fuels for the second year running. Heavy vehicles and vans are mainly diesel-powered. However, close to 60 per cent of the road traffic volumes performed by passenger cars in 2009 were still done by petrol-powered cars. Passenger cars that were less than six years old in 2009, on the other hand, were mainly diesel-powered. Vehicles powered by other fuels than diesel or petrol contributed less than 1 per cent of the total distances covered in the statistics in 2009.