Average driver spends nearly £1,000 and wastes almost five days stuck in traffic a year

The average UK motorist is being forced to waste £968 and spend 4.9 days stuck in traffic on major roads each year because of congestion, according to new analysis by the Local Government Association (LGA) in its new report, A country in a jam: tackling congestion in our towns and cities. Travel speeds across the country’s local roads continue to decrease, with the average speed on ‘A’ roads now just 25.2 mph, one per cent slower than it was this time last year. Congestion also significantly contributes to
August 18, 2017 Read time: 2 mins

The average UK motorist is being forced to waste £968 and spend 4.9 days stuck in traffic on major roads each year because of congestion, according to new analysis by the Local Government Association (LGA) in its new report, A country in a jam: tackling congestion in our towns and cities.

Travel speeds across the country’s local roads continue to decrease, with the average speed on ‘A’ roads now just 25.2 mph, one per cent slower than it was this time last year.

Congestion also significantly contributes to excess harmful vehicle emissions - which leads to 40,000 premature deaths annually.

The LGA is warning that congestion is no longer just threatening our environment and the quality of our air, but also becoming a drain on our economy and productivity too. It is forecasting that congestion will cost the economy £300 billion a year by 2030 –a tenfold increase of the current costs of £30.8 billion a year.

With traffic forecasted to rise by up to 55 per cent by 2040, council leaders are calling on government to outline a comprehensive congestion strategy to tackle the issue.

The LGA said councils need the same sort of long term funding certainty for local roads maintenance that is enjoyed by 8101 Highways England and 5021 Network Rail. This is desperately needed to help councils tackle the £12 billion roads repair backlog and congestion they face on local roads.

The LGA says bus travel also needs to be actively encouraged and the Government needs to fully fund the concessionary fares scheme and give councils control over the Bus Service Operators’ Grant. This fuel duty rebate, currently paid directly to bus operators, would enable councils to protect vital bus routes, and give them the funding they need to provide an effective and efficient bus service.

Councils, outside London, also need powers enforce moving traffic offences so they can target notoriously congested junctions or stretches of road where safety concerns have been raised.

Related Content

  • August 24, 2015
    London is Europe’s most congested city, says Inrix
    The Inrix National Traffic Scorecard Annual Report 2014, which analyses and compares the status of traffic congestion in countries and major metropolitan areas worldwide, reveals that congestion levels rose in over half (53%) of European cities. As economies start to recover from the recession of 2007-2013 and employment levels begin to rise, congestion is increasing. Congestion in European cities decreased in the first and second quarters of 2014 when compared with the previous year, by four per cent pe
    Read More
  • November 19, 2015
    Smarter bus travel comes to Greater Manchester
    Millions of bus passengers in Greater Manchester will benefit from cheaper fares with the introduction of new smart multi-operator bus travel. The scheme is one of the largest in the UK outside London and is the result of collaboration between more than 30 bus operators through industry body Greater Manchester Travelcards (GMTL), the organisation behind the System One brand, in partnership with Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM). Passengers can now purchase multi-operator travel, which is store
    Read More
  • January 16, 2012
    Dutch survey shows drivers are in favour of road user charging
    'Keep it simple, stupid' is an oft-forgotten axiom but in terms of road user charging it is entirely appropriate. So says the ANWB's Ferry Smith. A couple of decades ago, it might have been largely true that the technology aspects of advanced road infrastructure were the main obstacles to deployment. However, 20 years or more of development have led to a situation where such 'obstacles' are often no more than a political fig-leaf. Area-wide Road User Charging (RUC) is a case in point; speak candidly to syst
    Read More
  • May 22, 2014
    ‘Risky tailgating and speeding rife on UK motorways’
    Six in ten UK drivers own up to risky tailgating (57 per cent) and a similar proportion break the limit by 10mph or more (60 per cent) on motorways and 70mph dual carriageways, with men by far the worst offenders, a survey by Brake and insurance company Direct Line reveals. Almost all drivers say they worry about other drivers tailgating on motorways: 95 per cent are at least occasionally concerned about vehicles too close behind them; more than four in ten (44 per cent) are concerned every, or most, tim
    Read More

Highlighted Content