UK roads are at their all-time slowest

A Department for Transport report has revealed that UK roads are officially moving slower than they have before – due to increasing traffic levels.

There was a whopping 317.8 billion miles covered by vehicles in the UK in 2015 – which is 2.2% up on 2014, and 1.1% up on the previous peak level. 248.6 billion were covered by cars alone.

This has meant that the average speed on a local ‘A’ road during a weekday peak period is just 23.4mph, which is 2.9% down on the year before.

The average speed by region shows a real congestion issue in the capital:

London 14.6mph
North West 21.5mph
West Mids 24.2mph
Yorkshire and Humber 24.3mph
South East 25.8mph
South West 27.1mph
North East 27.6mph
East Mids 27.8mph
East 28.3mph

Of course, in order to help speed things up, without considerable infrastructure investment, the solution lies in reducing the number of vehicles on the roads.If half of UK motorists received a lift one day a week, congestion and pollution would be reduced by 10% and traffic jams by 20%.

You can share your trip through Liftshare.com – whether you’re going short or long distance. Offer or find your lift today!

Photo credit: Geograph.ie

Author Lex Barber

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