Data by the TomTom Traffic Index on Wednesday (Jan 10) revealed that London remains the world’s slowest city to drive through. The statistics show that the carbon dioxide (CO2) impact of London’s petrol vehicles increased by 1.5 per cent. The new data is based on details traffic trends that were observed in 2023 in 387 cities across 55 countries throughout.
The index focuses on ranking some of the major cities based on their average travel time. It provides free access to city-by-city information.
The data revealed that the average travel times increased in 21 of the 25 UK cities. According to data, the increase was 2.7 per cent in London and Leeds as compared with 2022.
Coventry and Glasgow were the only two cities recording a fall in average travel times by one per cent and 1.1 per cent year-on-year, respectively.
Traffic congestion had the biggest impact during peak hours, with Brits driving an average of 43 minutes per day while commuting during rush hours.
As per a report by Fleet News, the timings are on a six-mile home-to-work distance driven at morning and evening peaks, up one minute from 2022 and four from 2021.
City Hall data published last year noted that the ongoing impact of congestion occurs despite overall air pollution and carbon emissions from road traffic declining in central London since the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) was implemented four years ago.
talking about the reason behind it, TomTom said that the lack of multi-lane highways and speed limit adjustments to 20mph resulted in a low base speed. This means that even in light traffic, the average speed in London is slower than in any other metropolis in the world.
Stephanie Leonard, head of government and regulatory affairs at TomTom, weighed in on the usage of electric vehicles but warned that better traffic management will still be needed to ensure viable traffic flow despite EVs becoming a norm.
According to Business Green, Leonard said, “Real-time data intelligence will play a significant role here in transforming how people move around UK cities, supporting our transition to less diesel and petrol consumption and more sustainable transportation.”
She added, “Low emission zones (LEZs) across Europe have proven to make a long-term difference to the levels of pollutants and greenhouse gases in urban environments. Above all, they ensure that drivers of polluting vehicles are disincentivised from driving into city centres by levying heavy charges.”
“However, the best thing to hope for is the UK’s LEZs become irrelevant as the volume of electric vehicles (EVs) increases in line with other regulations that ban the sale of combustion engine vehicles,” she further said.
