Inrix: Congestion cost UK motorists over £37bn in 2017

The UK is the third most congested country in Europe and the tenth most congested country in the world where costs amounted to more than £37.7bn ($52.2bn) for all drivers in 2017, an average of £1,168 ($2,233) per person. These findings come from Inrix’s annual Global Traffic Scorecard which analysed and ranked the impact of traffic congestion in 1,360 cities across 38 countries. London remained the UK’s most congested major city for the tenth consecutive year as drivers spent an average of 74 hours in
February 12, 2018 Read time: 2 mins

The UK is the third most congested country in Europe and the tenth most congested country in the world where costs amounted to more than £37.7bn ($52.2bn) for all drivers in 2017, an average of £1,168 ($2,233) per person. These findings come from 163 Inrix’s annual Global Traffic Scorecard which analysed and ranked the impact of traffic congestion in 1,360 cities across 38 countries.

London remained the UK’s most congested major city for the tenth consecutive year as drivers spent an average of 74 hours in gridlock during peak hours. It cost them £2,430 ($3,354) a year each and the capital £9.5bn ($13.1bn) from direct and indirect costs.

Manchester, Birmingham, Luton and Edinburgh made up the remainder of the top five most congested major cities, with motorists in Manchester stuck in congestion for 39 hours during peak hours, and 10% of their total drive time in gridlock. It cost each of them £1,403 ($1,937) and the city £345m ($476m), while drivers in Birmingham spent over 9% of their total drive time in congestion, costing the city £632m ($876m).

City Centre Insights revealed that peak hours in Central London were the worst time and place for drivers in the capital, where they spent an average of 23% of their time in congestion at an average speed of under 5 mph.

Results from Britain’s most congested roads found that London roads were the busiest during rush-hour, with the A406 from Chiswick Roundabout to Hanger Lane ranked as the UK’s most congested road, in which motorists spent a total of 56 hours in congestion.

In addition, drivers travelling into and out of the capital during peak hours spent 16% of their time in gridlock with an average speed of 12.8 mph.

A full copy of the report and additional findings are available on the %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external website Inrix website link false http://inrix.com/press-releases/scorecard-2017-uk/ false false%>.

Classification & Data Collection

Related Content

  • January 31, 2019
    Austria issues highest fines for violation of diesel bans, says study
    Austria imposes the highest fines in Europe for violating diesel bans and low-emission zones, according to new research. Austrian authorities charge up to €2,180 for violators – the next highest is the UK, with fines up to £1,138. Auto parts company Kfzteile24 based its findings on data from UrbanAccessRegulations.eu and its map offers a comparison between 350 cities across Europe. The overview outlines examples of vehicles already affected by low-emission zones and driving diesel bans - and those likel
    Read More
  • June 18, 2019
    Painted lanes ‘a waste of money’, say UK cycling champions
    The UK government has wasted hundreds of millions of pounds painting white lines on busy roads to use as cycle lanes, says former Olympic cyclist Chris Boardman. Boardman, cycling and walking commissioner for Greater Manchester, has reportedly joined fellow commissioners Dame Sarah Storey (Sheffield City region) and Will Norman (London) in writing to transport secretary Chris Grayling calling for new measures to be adopted. The Guardian says the letter argues that painted cycle lanes do not make cyc
    Read More
  • October 30, 2015
    Upcoming Flir traffic webinars
    Flir Traficon Academy is organising several informative webinars for November, to provide participants with more about keeping traffic flowing. The vehicle and bicycle presence detector on 5 November at 7:00am, 1:30pm and 6:30pm will discuss the Flir ThermiCam/TrafiSense integrated thermal camera and detector that can be used for vehicle and bike detection, which uses thermal energy emitted from vehicles and bicyclists to detect their presence
    Read More
  • February 5, 2019
    Uber suspends Barcelona service after new regulations introduced
    Taxi-hailing giant Uber is suspending its service in the Spanish city of Barcelona. The move comes after new regulations were passed by local authorities, according to Reuters. The company started its UberX service in the city last year. But from now on, passengers using ride-hailing services will have to wait at least 15 minutes after booking a ride before they can be picked up – thus negating one of the key selling points of companies such as Uber. Speed and convenience – as well as cost – are w
    Read More

Highlighted Content