What is VMT (vehicle miles traveled)?

In this short video, I explain what VMT is. Vehicle miles traveled (VMT) is the measure of vehicle miles traveled per capita, which is calculated by the total annual miles of vehicle travel divided by the total population in a state or in an urbanized area.
VMT serves as a great indicator of how many vehicular miles are traveled in a region and can help planners figure out how to better implement land uses in order to curb down travel per capita.
Typically, a lower vmt per capita means less vehicle miles traveled, which means less driving. Less driving means less traffic, less emissions, and less energy consumption. A higher VMT is the latter. More driving, more traffic, more emissions, and more energy consumption.
Land uses typically influence total VMT in an area. Typically, more dense, transit oriented development, mixed use development leads to lower VMT. Higher VMT is more associated with low density residential zoning, less transit options besides the car, single use zoning, and sprawl.
Planners can adopt VMT as a measure in land uses in their efforts to push for more sustainable urban areas and meet transportation goals.
Such examples are enacting zoning ordinances that incentivize streamlining certain projects below a certain VMT threshold put in place that developers meet. It is not only a measure of transportation, but VMT can be used as a mechanism to help developers into pushing for more sustainable development.
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