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The Department of Transport Tourism and Sport has today published its annual Bulletin of Vehicle and Driver Statistics.

The bulletin is the result of a broad analysis of the national vehicle fleet and contains statistical tables covering:

· The size, composition, age and fuel type of vehicles;
· Details on the first licensing of new and imported used vehicles;
· The number of current driving licenses in each local authority;

Some Key Statistics:
· The total number of licensed (taxed) vehicles recorded on Irish roads at the 31st December 2017 is 2,675,879. This represents an increase of 50,921 vehicles (1.94%) on the previous year. The main components of the vehicle fleet include 2,066,112 private cars, 349,143 goods vehicles, 79,674 agricultural tractors and 39,873 motorcycles.

· In the passenger car category, the number of vehicles at 2,066,112 represents an increase from 2,026,977 in the previous year (1.93% increase).

· A total of 1,195,156 passenger cars are now taxed based on their Co2 emissions rating. This represents an increase of 194,668 (19.46%) units on the previous year figures and the CO2 based vehicles now represents 57.8% of the overall passenger car fleet. There are 86.23% of vehicles bases in the ‘A’ and ‘B’ CO2 bands less than 141 g/km.

· A total of 161,840 new vehicles were licensed, a decrease of 19,453 (-10.73%) on the previous year figure. 118,018 imported used vehicles were licensed in 2017, an increase of 28,415 (31.71%), on the 2016 figure.

· 38.7% of vehicles use petrol while 60% operate on diesel.

· 75% of private cars are 4 years old and over while 64.5% are 6 years old and over. In 2011, 78.7% of private cars were 4 years old and over while 60% of private cars were 6 years old and over.

· 72% of goods vehicles are 4 years old and over while 64% are 6 years old and over.

· There were 2.86 million current driving licences at 31st December 2017. 91.4% held full licenses. There were 246,148 Learner Permits licences, a decrease of 3,509 on the 2016 figure.

The bulletin is available electronically on the Department’s Website here or from the Driver and Vehicle Computer Services Division by email at dvcsddata@dttas.ie