If you’ve spent any time driving in London – and yes, I do mean even as little as a few minutes – you’ll be familiar with our city’s infamous traffic. From streets backed up with bumper-to-bumper traffic to seemingly never-ending road closures and diversions, the traffic never seems to end. And now recent research has confirmed our congestion-based fears, with London officially home to the most congested roads in Europe.
Inrix, which analyzes traffic and mobility data around the world, recently released its 2023 Global Traffic Scorecard, which contained the damning information. The report looks at “three years of mobility data” across over 900 cities in 37 countries to determine which city has the worst traffic and congestion. And London didn’t do too well…
According to the report, Londoners who travel by car lose an average of 99 hours to traffic and congestion. In the middle of the city, average speeds are just 10 miles per hour, and it’s estimated that traffic costs drivers a whopping £902!
The most congested roads in the world
London may not have fared too well in the rankings, but at least we’re not the worst!
The very worst place for congestion was New York City. With the average traveller losing 101 hours to travel, and peak travel speeds of just 15 miles per hour, the American city has the most congested roads in the world. Trailing behind New York City was Mexico City, with 96 hours lost to sitting in traffic, and an average speed in the centre of the city of just 12 MPH.
The cities with the most congested roads in the world are:
- New York City
- Mexico City
- London
- Paris
- Chicago
- Istanbul
- Los Angeles
- Boston
- Cape Town
- Jakarta
In Europe, the most congested roads can be found in:
Needless to say – we’ll be heading for the Tube or the bus next time we need to get somewhere! Who’s got time to sit in traffic for 100 hours?