The worst congested city in the United Kingdom – and the 14th worst in the world – is Belfast, where the average journey time is 40 per cent slower than it would be if traffic was flowing freely.
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The index also revealed that national congestion was 4% worse a year ago than in 2014.
Auckland might still have the country’s most congested roads, but Wellington’s morning traffic is now worse than in London, Sydney, and Los Angeles, a navigation company says.
Sydneysiders whingeing about traffic may have a point, as the Harbour City outranks NY on a global congestion index.
Next on the list are Manchester and Edinburgh – with journeys taking 37 per cent longer – followed by Brighton (34 per cent), Hull (33 per cent) and Bournemouth (32 per cent).
“We really want everybody to think about how they can lower the amount of time they waste in traffic every day – and to realize that we all need to play a part”, said Ralf-Peter Schaefer, vice president of TomTom Traffic.
New South Wales (NSW) state Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Andrew Constance agreed that congestion has got Sydneysiders by the throat.
“If only five per cent of us changed our travel plans, we could improve traffic congestion on our main roads by up to 30%”.
This figure rises to 86 per cent during the evening peak in the Northern Ireland capital, with drivers wasting an overall average of 195 hours behind the wheel – equivalent to more than eight days.
Even though there has been improvement, Toronto still ranks second in the top 3 most congested cities in Canada, right behind Vancouver, and ahead of Montreal.
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In Toronto, the average driver saved about 11 hours NOT sitting in heavy traffic, marking the first decrease since 2012. The next most congested big cities worldwide are Bangkok (57 per cent), Istanbul (50 per cent), Rio de Janeiro (47 per cent) and Moscow (44 per cent).
