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

  • May 18, 2016
    Car traffic in London is down but congestion is up, says new study
    London Congestion Trends, an in-depth study of the causes of traffic congestion in London between 2012 and 2015 published by Inrix, indicates that congestion in London is increasing, with journey times in Central London growing by 12 per cent annually. Inrix says this is consistent with data that shows that the London economy and population are growing, which normally results in an increase in gridlock. Further, unemployment and fuel prices are down, both of which usually mean a rise in traffic. Despite thi
  • March 23, 2016
    Congestion up globally says TomTom
    According to TomTom’s latest Traffic Index, traffic congestion has increased 13 per cent globally since 2008. But there are big differences between continents; while North America’s traffic congestion has jumped by 17 per cent, Europe has risen just two per cent. TomTom believe the contrasts probably are driven by economic growth in North America and financial troubles in the many parts of Europe. In particular, some countries have recorded a marked drop in traffic over the past eight years, including It
  • September 22, 2014
    ASECAP examines tolling during downturns
    ASECAP debated the impact of the financial crises on Europe’s tolling companies and considered the future in diverse economies. Colin Sowman picks some of the highlights. This year ASECAP (Association Europeenne des Concessionnaires d’Autoroutes et d’Ouvrages a’ Peage, with members in 21 countries managing 46,000km of roadway) held its annual Study & Information Days in Athens, Greece – one of the country hardest hit by recent economic problems. While the theme of the conference, Ensuring Sustainability in
  • June 10, 2015
    Call for Juncker to reverse decision to drop serious road injury target
    More than 40 European organisations concerned with road safety, together with 11 members of the European Parliament have sent a letter to President Jean-Claude Juncker urging him to not drop setting new EU target to cut serious road injuries. The letter was sent yesterday by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC), ahead of Thursday's meeting of national transport ministers in Luxembourg where the target was set to be announced. The European Transport Safety Council has learnt that the announcemen