Traffic moving slower on congested 'A' roads

Date: 9/8/2013

A report published by the (DfT) Department for Transport has indicated that traffic using 'A' roads between 7am and 10am is moving slower than in previous years due to rising congestion.

The provisional data from the report indicated that the average speed during morning peak hours was 24.9 mph between July 2012 and June 2013, a 0.3 per cent drop on the year ending March 2013.

It is perhaps no surprise that 'A' roads are congested during peak hours, as these locally managed roads account for around nine per cent of all roads in England, but carry around a third of all traffic.

Information for individual months showed that April, May and June 2013 all saw average peak speeds decrease when compared to the same periods in 2012.

The DfT has attributed some of the speed reduction to the significant amount of rainfall in the early part of the year, with rain between March 2012 and March 2013 higher than the previous year.

It also noted that prolonged snowfall at the start of 2013 may also have forced down average speeds during this period, as motorists travelled cautiously in their vehicles.

According to the DfT, the small drops in average speeds witnessed in the months since March 2013 are more difficult to explain and may simply be down to a slight increase in traffic and congestion on 'A' roads.

"In addition, the introduction of new guidance for local highway authorities for setting speed limits on local roads in their area published in January 2013 may have had some impact on average speeds on locally managed 'A' roads in recent months," the report noted.

When the speed and congestion figures were broken down to a regional level, each of the nine regions in England had slower average weekday morning peak speeds during the year ending June 2013, compared to the previous year.

The north-east was hardest hit and suffered the greatest proportional decline in peak-period speeds, with a three per cent fall recorded, with London experiencing the smallest drop, just 0.3 per cent.

Posted by Sarah Bailey

Transport Research News and Vehicle Safety News