The UK is the third most congested country in Europe, costing motorists more than £30bn a year, new research has revealed.
The INRIX Global Traffic Scorecard found drivers in the UK spend an average of 32 hours a year in congestion in peak hours.
London was the UK’s most congested city, according to the study, with drivers spending an average of 73 hours stuck in gridlock during peak hours.
The scorecard worked out that traffic jams are costing an average of £968 per driver in direct and indirect costs such as fuel and time wasted. This increases to £1,911 for drivers in London, costing more than £6bn across the city as a whole
‘The cost of this congestion is staggering, stripping the economy of billions, impacting businesses and costing consumers dearly,’ said Graham Cookson, chief economist at INRIX.
‘To tackle this problem, we must consider bold options such as remote working, wider use of road user charging and investment in big data to create more effective and intelligent transportation systems.'
