UK city revealed as the having slowest roads in the world – beating Paris and Los Angeles
In a shocking new report from global mapping and location technology company TomTom, the world’s slowest city for traffic is London.
The data showed that drivers in the capital take 42.5 minutes to travel just 6.2 miles by car.
This means that 43% of the time someone spends behind the wheel is when they are stuck in traffic.
In comparison, the French capital Paris saw drivers take 32 minutes to drive the same distance – and 25 minutes for those based in Los Angeles in the USA.
However, the Romanian city of Bucharest and Dublin, Ireland took second and third place in the standings – with journeys taking 36 minutes.
All these times reflect the time period for drivers during rush hour – and were recorded through 600 million devices, including sat navs, smartphones, and other telematic systems.
Andy Marchant, a traffic expert at TomTom, said: "The ongoing train strikes heavily affected levels of traffic congestion, with commuters opting to use vehicles to get around cities in the absence of train services.
"In London specifically, a lack of black cab drivers may also have prompted more drivers into the city.
"The sheer volume of slow-moving traffic across UK cities, coupled with the UK's antiquated road infrastructure, is having a significant impact on transport emissions.
"Better traffic management based on real-time data intelligence is needed to ensure viable traffic flows and the efficient use of city infrastructure."
The report also looked into the prices that drivers within these cities pay to travel the same distance – and unfortunately for Londoners, they are paying more than anyone else in the world.
They are shelling out £1.79 to travel 6.2 miles. From the 50 major cities that TomTom captured data from, the cheapest city to travel in is Knoxville, Tennessee, USA – costing just 55p.
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Earlier this year, another report from data firm INRIX further highlighted the problem that drivers in London face – as the city was announced to be the worst for traffic in the UK.
The data broke down individual roads and highlighted the ones that were the worst for drivers being stuck in traffic.
According to the report, the top five worst roads for traffic in London were the A219, A202, A406, A24 and A205.
The top 10 worst roads for traffic outside London:
- A45 EB (Birmingham)
- A6177 SB (Leeds)
- A435 SB (Birmingham)
- A902 (Edinburgh)
- A65 SB (Leeds)
- A61 NB (Sheffield)
- A45 WB (Birmingham)
- A34 SB (Birmingham)
- A4174 NB (Bristol)
- A702 SB (Edinburgh)
In the most recent RAC Report on Motoring, the data highlighted the importance that the public put on driving – but the state of the roads isn’t up to the task.
Have you noticed the state of traffic in your city getting worse in recent years? What can be done to tackle this? Leave your comments below.
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