An annual traffic index supplied by TomTom shows that congestion in the UK has gone up by 14% in five years, but has decreased by 3% in the rest of Europe. UK congestion rose 4% last year, with 17 of the 25 cities included in the report being affected. The average commuter spent 127 - or 5 hours - stuck in traffic in 2015 but surprisingly, London is not the worst affected city - although it is 2nd. That title goes to Belfast which also stands as the 14th worst congested city in the world.
Manchester moves up into third place, overtaking Edinburgh and Brighton, with journeys 37% slower. Not all the cities in the UK have seen increases however, some have actually seen a slight decrease. These cities include Nottingham, Portsmouth, Middlesbrough and Preston.
Commenting on the report's findings, Ralf-Peter Schaefer, Vice-President of TomTom Traffic said: “Transport authorities are managing congestion with well-engineered policies, but you can’t just build your way out of traffic jams.
"Studies have shown that policies of ‘predict and provide’ are unsustainable. Building new motorways and ring roads doesn’t eliminate congestion. More must be done to better manage existing road space and to spread demand.
"People simply aren’t doing enough to change their travel habits - such as working flexible hours, avoiding peak commuting times, making use of real–time traffic information and trying alternative travel modes. If only five per cent of us changed our travel plans, we could improve traffic congestion on our main roads by up to thirty per cent.”
It could be worse though, as drivers in Mexico City, now the most congested city in the world spend a total of 219 hours stuck in traffic per year, double the average in the UK. So, you know, every cloud and that....
The latest report which was based on data compiled from Jan-Dec 2015 can be found here
