In most European countries there has, for several decades, been a close relationship between road freight demand and economic growth. The majority of road freight traffic forecasts have been based on the assumption that these variables will remain closely correlated for the foreseeable future. This is essentially an act of faith, as there is no guarantee that the traffic levels and economic growth will continue to follow parallel trends. Indeed in some European countries it appears that these trends have begun to diverge. Domestic and European transport statistics can only provide a crude outline of the historic developments in road freight demand for a broad set of commodity-flows, but can not attribute these developments to any underlying economic, logistical, or any other factors. The drivers that generate the growth in road freight traffic demand have not been studied in a European context. REDEFINE has conducted research at both the macro and micro level in an attempt to satisfy this need, and shed some light on how the damaging effects of road freight traffic can be minimised through the adoption of new policy initiatives.