Weekend Congestion Slows Drivers

Roads in some English cities are more congested at the weekends than at rush hour during the week, reports The Times.

The report is based on figures from transport data firm Basemap. They analysed journey times in Birmingham, London and Manchester, and compared 7am to 7pm on weekends with week day rush hour (7-9am and 4-7pm).

Average traffic speed at weekends dropped in all the cities between 2019 and 2021:

• from 16.5mph to 14.2mph in Birmingham (15.3mph week day rush hour)
• from 15.2mph to 12.8mph in Manchester (14.2mph week day rush hour)
• from 14.6mph to 12.6mph in London (13.3mph week day rush hour)

Rail passenger numbers are at 88% of pre-pandemic levels, and for bus passengers outside London the equivalent figure is 91%.

Van traffic is at 116% of its pre-pandemic rate, and car traffic 96%.

The Times being the Times, it has to try to blame slow vehicle speeds on 20mph limits, low-traffic neighbourhoods and cycle lanes. It even sticks in a line about pedestrians being given more time to cross at traffic lights – something that certainly isn’t happening in North Yorkshire.

Transport Editor Nicholas Hellen asserts that ‘the capacity of roads has been reduced by measures intended to make urban living more pleasant, with the spread of 20mph restrictions, the creation of low-traffic neighbourhoods and dedicated cycle lanes, and pedestrians given more time to cross at traffic lights.’

However, he provides no evidence that active travel measures are in fact a cause of slow vehicle speeds. Indeed, the expert he quotes says the exact opposite.

Danny Dorling, a professor of geography at Oxford, told him it was wrong to blame active travel measures.

‘The changes to our road system, whether 20mph speed restrictions or low-traffic neighbourhoods, are far too small to account for this slowdown in speed. The big thing that has happened is that more people are trying to use their cars in different ways than before the pandemic. It does not take much of an increase to suddenly have this effect.’

danny dorling, oxford professor of geography