Driving in Scotland comes in all shapes and forms, from the big multi lane motorways to the small narrow country lanes. 

As a popular tourist country, roads all over Scotland can get very busy as tourists and locals alike drive on busy roads to reach some of the best known spots.

Could you guess what Scotland's busiest roads are?

Here's the breakdown...

What is AADT?

To work out Scotland's busiest roads, officials use the Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) measurement. 

To work out the AADT, officials usually divide the number of vehicles on the road yearly by 365, because there are around 365 days in a year.

The AADT figures for Scotland's busiest roads therefore refer to the average number of cars which drive on the specified road each day. 

What are Scotland's busiest roads?

Due to the impact of the Covid pandemic, Transport Scotland currently refers to the 2019 figures.

According to Transport Scotland, the busiest road in Scotland in 2019 was the M8 in Glasgow, with an AADT figure of 144,000 vehicles.

This means that over the course of 2019, around 52,560,000 vehicles drove on the Glasgow M8. 

The M74 at Polmadie was the second busiest road, with this motorway eventually connecting Scotland with England. 

It saw around 35,770,000 vehicles in 2019. 

Unsurprisingly, the top 5 busiest roads in 2019 were all motorways, with the A720 at Dreghorn coming in at number 6. 

This is a junction at the Edinburgh bypass which is known for bad traffic. 

Another Edinburgh road to make the top 20 is the M8 at Hermiston Gait, where cars can join the  bypass. 

Here are the top 20 busiest roads in Scotland with their AADT for 2019:

  1.  M8 Glasgow - 144,000
  2.  M74 Polmadie - 98,000
  3.  M77 Dumbreck - 94,000
  4.  M74 Raith Interchange - 93,000
  5.  M90 Queensferry Crossing - 79,000
  6.  A720 Dreghorn - 74,500
  7.  M80 Haggs - 73,500
  8.  M8 Hermiston Gait - 69,000
  9.  M9 Newbridge - 57,000
  10. A92 Cowdenbeath - 48,000
  11. A82 Dumbarton - 47,500
  12. M898 Erskine Bridge - 47,000
  13. A737 Johnstone Bypass - 45,500
  14. A90 Dundee Kingsway - 43,500
  15. M876 J1 to J2 - 43,000
  16. A77 Kilmarnock - 43,000
  17. A90 Perth to Dundee - 40,000
  18. A96 Raigmore - 39,000
  19. M9 Dunblane - 36,500
  20. M74 Lesmahagow - 36,000