Londoners spent four days of 2015 in traffic and London topped list of most congested cities in 2015 INRIX Traffic Scorecard
If you were wondering where four days of your life went last year, you now have the answer: London traffic jams.
The 2015 INRIX Traffic Scorecard has revealed drivers in London wasted an estimated 101 hours in traffic delays last year, over four days, while London topped the list of traffic congestion in more than 100 cities worldwide.
Across the UK, drivers spent 30 hours on average in delays last year, consistent with 2014, and traffic was up in almost two-thirds, 61 per cent, of cities.
Belgium held on to the top spot in 2015 with 44 hours on average spent in gridlock, while the Netherlands came in second with 39, Germany came in third with 38, Luxembourg ranked in fourth place with 33 and Switzerland came fifth, also with an average of 30 hours of gridlock.
The UK dropped to sixth place in the European ranking as a result of Switzerland seeing a rise in traffic levels.
INRIX also identified the worst congested roads in the UK, as well as the worst times to travel. London roads were the busiest during the mid-week rush-hour with the A217 experiencing the most congestion in the country, delaying motorists by 110 hours – 26 hours more than the next worst road, the A215 from Camberwell to Croydon.
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Outside of the capital, a five-mile stretch of the A8 in Edinburgh was the most congested road with drivers spending an average of 43 hours in gridlock.
“London is the victim of its own success, with a robust jobs market and a growing economy attracting more people, more construction and consequently more traffic,” Bryan Mistele, president and chief executive of INRIX, said.
“Transport for London is tackling this problem with its £4bn road modernisation plan. Whilst in the short term the roadworks from this initiative are frustrating for drivers, they are a step towards creating a more sustainable and modernised transport network.”