UK commuters have a lot to deal with in the morning whether that’s battling with the crowds to get on the next train or waiting for hours in traffic jams.
In fact, although Britain is undergoing a £23 billion overhaul of roads, the UK cities are still amongst the worst congestion in Europe.
In a recent survey compiled by GoCompare, data from a variety of different sources, including INRIX and the Department of Transport, was analysed to reveal which roads, cities and motorways in the UK should be avoided during the commuter rush.
The data reported that Britons were held up by an average delay of 47 seconds for every mile travelled on British roads.
There are over 246,500 miles of road in Britain and more than 188,500 in England.
Across the country, there are 31,357 miles of major roadworks which only adds to the delays during peak travel times.
Compared to 2014, vehicles travelling on A roads were delayed by an additional 4.8 seconds per mile in 2017.
This increased to 9.6 seconds when travelling in the evening during the week.
The report went on to highlight that average road speeds slowed during peak times by four per cent.
Whereas, weekday mornings were recorded to be 1.4mph quicker than weekday evenings during peak times in 2017.
From analysing data since 2015, the findings have shown journey time overall has increased.
Compared to two years previous, car journeys in 2017 require an additional 67.7 per cent of time to be allocated for the journey.
Alongside contributing factors such as peak times and roadworks, the number of cars on the road plays a vital part in congestion problems.
Since the turn of the millennium, there has been a 17 per cent increase in the number of cars on motorways.
Journey time has increased too. Since the millennium, cars travel an additional 18.9 billion more miles.
So which are the worst cities in the UK for traffic congestion?
The report highlights London as the worst city for congestion with the average driver spending 73 hours in traffic every year.
In fact, London is the second worst city in Europe for congestion, with Moscow in Russia taking the top title at 91 hours.
The 15 most congested cities in the UK and the average hours spent in traffic each year
London – 73 hours
Manchester – 39 hours
Aberdeen – 35 hours
Birmingham – 34 hours
Edinburgh – 31 hours
Guildford – 29 hours
Luton – 29 hours
Bournemouth – 27 hours
Hull – 27 hours
Bristol – 27 hours
Glasgow – 27 hours
Reading – 26 hours
Cambridge – 26 hours
Leeds – 25 hours
Exeter – 25 hours
