5 Useful and Interesting London Traffic Facts and Statistics

To those that live outside London, driving in the capital is usually a terrifying experience. Most people will opt for a train, the London Underground or a taxi rather than braving London’s roads. If you live or work in the city then you might be used to London traffic, but did you know these 5 fascinating facts and stats?

Driving Speeds

When driving from Hyde Park to Covent Garden takes 17 minutes (to travel two miles), the equivalent distance in a more rural location such as Windermere in the Lake District can be covered in just 6 minutes. This means that a two mile drive takes nearly three times as long in London, due to heavier traffic.

Traffic Lights and Miles of Road

There are 6,000 sets of traffic lights in London. There are more than 9,000 miles of roads in the city, and more than 7,000 of those miles are on ‘minor urban’ roads.

Traffic Congestion

London was ranked by INRIX as the 5th most congested city in the world. The only other UK city to be included in the Top 10 was Manchester, which held the 9th spot.

The M25

The M25 is not a full circle and does not fully enclose Greater London, but the motorway cost £7.5 million per mile to build and at one point is 12 lanes wide. The motorway is also known for its long traffic jams, with a 22-mile jam being the current record.

Traffic Jam Times

Monday mornings and Friday evenings are the worst times for traffic jams in London, but the overall worst day for traffic congestion is Wednesday.

You can’t always control when you drive, and you certainly can’t control the other vehicles that you’re sharing the roads with, but when you’re next stuck in traffic it might help to know how long you might be waiting or why your journey is taking so long. If not, you can at least distract your passengers with amazing M25 facts and details about London’s traffic light system.

The daily commute is tough enough, without discovering that you’ve broken your car key or have locked it inside your vehicle. If you need a replacement car key and don’t have time to wait around, then don’t hesitate to call our 24/7 car key replacement phone line. We’ll send someone out to meet you, and it’ll be someone that knows the roads well enough to reach you as quickly as possible.