Drivers spend 30 hours a year in traffic

Date posted: March 14, 2014

According to a new report by traffic information firm Inrix, the average motorist will spend 30 hours each year in gridlock, with London coming out as one of the worst offenders, not only in the UK but in Europe as a whole.

Despite the congestion charge which is in place in the capital, drivers will spend almost 82 hours a year in gridlock in the London commuter zone coming only second to Brussels in Belgium. In the UK, after London, Manchester is the worst city for congestion, with an average of 46 hours annual delay. 

In terms of the most congested road in the UK, the stretch of the A4 between central London and junction 3 of the M4, comes out worst. It had hold ups of 91 hours during the rush hour over the past year.

Other top areas for the most hours wasted in traffic jams included Merseyside, South Nottinghamshire, Greater Birmingham, and Greater Belfast, which all ranked higher than the UK average of 30 hours delay.

On average, the total wasted time spend in traffic jams increased by one hour in 2013 from the previous year. The data was collected from more than 100 taxis, trucks, vans and private cars which covered more than a million kilometres in roads across Europe.

Across Europe, on average the UK was the sixth most congested, with Belgium topping the list at 58 hours on average, followed by Netherlands, Germany, France, and Luxembourg.

Brian Mistele, president of Inrix commented that even though these delays are bad news for drivers, they are also a sign of a slowly recovering economy in Europe.