Skip to main content

Significant drop in Europe’s traffic congestion mirrors economic downturn

Inrix, a leading international provider of traffic information and intelligent driver services, has released its latest traffic scorecard which shows that, among the 13 European nations analysed, the countries impacted the most by the European debt crisis mirror those with the largest drops in traffic congestion. Portugal (-49%), Ireland (-25%), Spain (-15%) and Italy (-12%) were among those with the largest declines last year. Despite being considered the strongest European economies, troubles across the E
June 25, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
RSS163 Inrix, a leading international provider of traffic information and intelligent driver services, has released its latest traffic scorecard which shows that, among the 13 European nations analysed, the countries impacted the most by the European debt crisis mirror those with the largest drops in traffic congestion. Portugal (-49%), Ireland (-25%), Spain (-15%) and Italy (-12%) were among those with the largest declines last year. Despite being considered the strongest European economies, troubles across the Eurozone fuelled declines in Germany (-8%), Netherlands (-7%) and Belgium (-3%). In comparing 2011 to 2010, France showed change of less than 1%.

Analysis of traffic congestion in the first five months of 2012 shows even further declines. With France showing a three per cent decline, the drop in traffic congestion extended from eight to nine of the 13 European countries analysed in the report. By comparison, the strength of Germany's economy fuelled by modest employment growth (+1.3 per cent) resulted in a six per cent increase in traffic congestion in the first five months of this year.

According to the Inrix index, Belgium heads Europe's top 10 worst countries for traffic congestion followed by the Netherlands, Italy, UK, Spain, France, Germany, Austria, Portugal, Switzerland. Luxembourg, Hungary and Ireland complete the list respectively among the 13 European countries analysed.

The Inrix Traffic Scorecard is based on analysis of billions of raw data points from the company’s  own historical traffic database of approximately 100 million vehicles traveling the roads everyday including taxis, airport shuttles, service delivery vans, long haul trucks as well as consumer vehicles and mobile devices. Each data report from these GPS-equipped vehicles and devices includes the speed, location and heading of a particular vehicle at a reported date and time. In creating the scorecard, Inrix analyses information for more than one million kilometres of motorways and secondary roads in Europe and more than one million miles of roads in North America during every hour of the day to generate the congestion analyses, covering the largest metropolitan areas in 15 countries.

Related Content

  • April 20, 2012
    Brussels still the most congested city in Europe
    The results of the latest traffic study from TomTom are in, revealing some of the most congested hotspots in Europe. Brussels is still topping the chart as the most congested city in Europe and congestion in the Belgian Capital is getting worse, showing a 1.2% increase in traffic since 2010.
  • May 8, 2012
    TomTom launches speed camera app for iPhone
    TomTom in Europe has releases a speed camera app for the iPhone, Powered by European driving community with 1.6 million drivers in 15 countries, the app informs drivers of their speed, the speed limit, the type of camera ahead and the remaining distance to reach it. A colour-coded warning system quickly and effectively alerts users if they need to slow down.
  • March 5, 2015
    New vehicle technologies ‘could help reduce fatalities on European motorways’
    New safety technologies could play a major role in reducing the numbers killed on European motorways, according to the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC), in a new report published today. The new analysis of developments in motorway safety shows that, despite recent progress, around 1,900 were killed on motorways in the EU in 2013. The report cites figures from several countries showing that up to 60 per cent of those killed in motorway collisions were not wearing a seatbelt. It calls on the EU to req
  • June 21, 2016
    First year of growth in demand for public transport in EU ‘since economic crisis’
    The use of public transport in the European Union has reached its highest level since 2000, with a total of 57.9 billion journeys made in 2014, according to a new study released today by UITP (International Association of Public Transport). 2014 was the first year of distinct growth in demand for public transport after years of stable demand following the start of the economic crisis in 2008. The highest total demand in 2014 for bus, tram, metro and suburban rail was recorded in Germany (10.9 billi