Panorama | Bank Holidays

On the day after Whitsun bank holiday, 'Panorama' takes a look at how crowds and traffic are increasing year on year and tries to predict what the future holds for bank holiday leisure activities. The programme follows two families as they travel to Southend to spend the day on a solidly packed beach. Back in the studio, Richard Dimbleby and Dr Peter Kelly discuss potential solutions to the problem, such as more roads, a wider selection of places to visit and staggered holidays.

Between 1964 and 1984 the number of cars on the road rose from 12.4 million to 20.8 million. Overall, between 1951 and 2007, the number of vehicles in Great Britain rose from 4.7 million to 34 million. However, the rise in the number of road injuries recorded during that time period was much smaller, with the total increasing by only 4,000 from 178,000 to 182,000.