Skip to main content

Study reveals Warsaw as Europe’s most congested city

Vehicle GPS provider TomTom is revealing details of a study into traffic congestion it had carried out across Europe. This quarterly Congestion Index involves studies of 31 major European cities with populations of over 800,000. According to the study, Poland’s capital Warsaw suffers the worst traffic congestion of any European city. For the UK, the Leeds-Bradford are has come out as the most congested area. Drivers in the Yorkshire conurbation spend an average 86hours/year stuck in traffic jams according t
July 12, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
Vehicle GPS provider 3972 TomTom is revealing details of a study into traffic congestion it had carried out across Europe. This quarterly Congestion Index involves studies of 31 major European cities with populations of over 800,000. According to the study, Poland’s capital Warsaw suffers the worst traffic congestion of any European city. For the UK, the Leeds-Bradford are has come out as the most congested area. Drivers in the Yorkshire conurbation spend an average 86hours/year stuck in traffic jams according to the study. The Index is based on real travel time data captured by vehicles driving the entire European road network and compiled from five trillion anonymous data measurements on TomTom's servers.

Drivers in the Leeds-Bradford area endure journey times up to 63% longer than normal in morning peak periods and 60% longer in the evening rush-hour. Overall, congestion in the Leeds-Bradford area slows journey times down by an average of 28%. By comparison in UK capital London traffic jams delay journeys by an average of 27% and up to 50% in the evening rush-hour, while drivers spend an average 74 hours/year stuck in traffic jams. The two Yorkshire areas have suffered a 5% increase in congestion since 2011, the biggest of anywhere in Europe. Drivers there face a delay of 36 minutes for every hour they drive in peak periods. Leeds-Bradford is now seventh in a table of most traffic clogged cities across Europe, up from 19th in 2011.

Drivers in Birmingham spend an average 73 hours/year stuck in traffic jams. Traffic in the West Midlands city is delayed by an average of 21% because of congestion with delays of up to 28 minutes/hour during peak periods. Birmingham has risen from 23rd in the TomTom congestion ranking last year to 19th in 2012. The worst days for congestion are Tuesday and Thursday in Leeds-Bradford and Birmingham, while Mondays and Thursdays are worst in London.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Crane collapse on US bridge project
    July 20, 2016
    A crane collapsed over the Tappan Zee Bridge in the US on July 19th. Construction work is being carried out on the bridge. The structure is located in Tarrytown, New York State and the bridge is around 40km north of central Manhattan, spanning the Hudson River at one of its widest points. The crane was being used for the construction work and collapsed right across the roadway and in front of vehicles using the crossing. A number of vehicles were damaged in the incident and local news reports suggest up to
  • UK construction machine exports growth
    August 23, 2016
    The latest figures from the UK’s Construction Equipment Association (CEA) show that exports of machines continued to show modest growth in Q2 2016. This continued to reverse the declining trend seen in 2015, which reflected poor demand in many major overseas markets according to the CEA. Measured in volume terms (tonnes), exports showed 6.1% growth in Apr/Jun compared with Jan/Mar 2016. However, compared with the same quarter in 2015, Apr/Jun was still 10.3% below last year’s level. For the first half year,
  • Road safety is an EU priority
    March 2, 2012
    The preparation of the new EU Road Safety Policy for the next decade will take place during Spain's presidency of the EU. Patrick Smith reports. An the past 10 years, half a million people have been killed on European Union roads, with road crashes costing an annual €160 billion or 2% the EU's GDP.
  • New road reduces Carlisle congestion by 20%
    May 11, 2012
    Carlisle, in north-west England, has seen as 20% reduction in congestion since the opening of the city’s US$284million (£176m) Northern Development Route in February this year. Around 10,000 vehicles a day are using the new road, which is broadly in line with the predictions made by highways engineers when building a case to construct a new route connecting the A595 with the M6 around the western flank of the city. Traffic counters positioned on the new road show an average of 9,583 vehicles a day along the