Frustrated Fatal Fridays
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Motorists travelling on a Friday evening between 4 and 7pm on busy motorways are more likely to be killed or seriously injured and should be prepared for longer delays as this is the most dangerous and congested time to be on the roads, according to RAC Foundation research released today (12) during National Motorway Month.
Those on the western section of the M25 should be prepared for even longer delays - as this is the most congested time and place on the UK motorway network.
National Motorway Month is a joint initiative by RAC Foundation, Auto Express Magazine, IAM and BSM to encourage safer driving on our motorways. The campaign will run through the busy holiday month of August.
The RAC Foundation has analysed the Government's "Road Casualties Great Britain Report:2003" and found that more car users are killed or seriously injured on Friday late afternoon / early evening than at any other time during the week. The figures show that on Fridays:
Between 8 - 9 am 95 car users killed or seriously injured
Between 9 - 10 am 115 car users killed or seriously injured
Between 4 -5 pm 205 car users killed or seriously injured
Between 5- 6 pm 175 car users killed or seriously injured
Between 6 - 7 pm 182 car users killed or seriously injured.
The average numbers killed or seriously injured between 4 - 5 pm Monday - Friday is 158, which is 25 per cent lower than the Friday figure. This "fatal Friday phenomenon" may be due to motorists switching off early, fatigue after a long week and lack of concentration due to the: "Thank God It's Friday" effect.
The RAC Foundation and Trafficmaster have found that: the worst days of the week for congestion are:
Around seven per cent of the motorway and trunk road network suffers heavy congestion at peak times and a further 13 per cent does so on at least half the days of the year, according to the National Motorway Month research. August is the busiest month on the motorways.
The busiest single link on the motorway network in 2003 was the western section of the M25 (junctions 13 - 14) with 196,000 vehicles per day. However, due to road works on this section, in 2004 the busiest motorway link (carrying 181,000 vehicles per day) was between junctions 16 and 17 on the M60.
The average flow for the M25 as a whole was considerably higher than that of the next busiest motorways, the M60, M27, M1, M6 (south of the M62) and M62 (east of the Pennines at junction 22). The M8 between Glasgow and Edinburgh was the busiest motorway in Scotland.
In 2004, motorways accounted for less than one per cent of road length, but carried 19 per cent of all traffic in England. In Scotland and Wales, motorways carried 14 and 12 per cent of traffic respectively. The North West and South East had the highest percentages of traffic on motorways at 31 and 26 per cent respectively, with the North East and London motorways carrying the lowest percentage of traffic (five and six per cent respectively). Average traffic speeds on trunk roads (including motorways) fell between 1995 and 2003 at all times of the day*, and recent research has shown that congestion on motorways is a serious problem for nearly one third of people**.
In a recent survey***, road works were considered to be the main and most annoying cause of congestion, followed by the overall level of traffic. However research has found that actually only 10 per cent of congestion is caused by road works, whereas 25 per cent is caused by accidents, and 65 per cent by volume of traffic. The average time taken to clear motorways after a major incident, or accident is currently around 5.5 hours.****
The survey also revealed that of those who had used a motorway in the last six months, almost half said they had experienced congestion at some point during their last journey and the majority said they had experienced some or all of this congestion on the motorway section of their journey.
Forty eight per cent of those who had experienced congestion on their last journey involving a motorway said the congestion had added over half an hour to their journey time.
The National Motorway Month partners are today calling for more innovative measures to help cut congestion on our motorways and have produced a list of top priorities for helping ease congestion on the motorway network:
Edmund King, executive director of the RAC Foundation said:
"Motorway congestion is a very serious problem for many motorists, but there are some simple actions that can be taken to ease this. By introducing more variable speed limits, providing motorists with real-time information and using merge in turn signs, we could cut congestion and leave motorists able to enjoy their journey. Motorists will want to see real improvements on the motorways after the introduction of traffic officers."
"Effective traffic management will help but in the longer term we still need to see an expansion in capacity on our motorway network. It is better for the environment and economy to keep traffic on the motorway network rather than rat-running through towns and villages to avoid congestion."
"Motorists should be extra careful driving on a Friday evening as they are more likely to hit congestion or hit other cars."
Research Material:
* DfT Transport Trends 2004
**British Social Attitudes Survey (NatCen).
*** Attitudes to congestion on motorways and other roads - DfT March 2005
**** House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts - Tackling congestion by making better use of England's motorways and trunk roads, June 2005.
According to Trafficmaster the five worst stretches of motorway for congestion are:
1) M25 between J10 and J19 (Western section)
2) M4 between J4 and J12 (Heathrow to Reading)
3) M25 between J21 and J27 (St Albans to M11)
4) M6 between J16 and J22 (Crewe to Warrington)
5) M1 between J6A and J12 (Watford to Toddington)
The Highways Agency National Traffic Control Centre collects and analyses information on traffic conditions and flows from CCTV and in-road sensors. This real time information is available at www.highways.gov.uk/trafficinfo.
RAC Breakdown Cover
Those on the western section of the M25 should be prepared for even longer delays - as this is the most congested time and place on the UK motorway network.
National Motorway Month is a joint initiative by RAC Foundation, Auto Express Magazine, IAM and BSM to encourage safer driving on our motorways. The campaign will run through the busy holiday month of August.
The RAC Foundation has analysed the Government's "Road Casualties Great Britain Report:2003" and found that more car users are killed or seriously injured on Friday late afternoon / early evening than at any other time during the week. The figures show that on Fridays:
Between 8 - 9 am 95 car users killed or seriously injured
Between 9 - 10 am 115 car users killed or seriously injured
Between 4 -5 pm 205 car users killed or seriously injured
Between 5- 6 pm 175 car users killed or seriously injured
Between 6 - 7 pm 182 car users killed or seriously injured.
The average numbers killed or seriously injured between 4 - 5 pm Monday - Friday is 158, which is 25 per cent lower than the Friday figure. This "fatal Friday phenomenon" may be due to motorists switching off early, fatigue after a long week and lack of concentration due to the: "Thank God It's Friday" effect.
The RAC Foundation and Trafficmaster have found that: the worst days of the week for congestion are:
- Friday
- Thursday
- Wednesday
- Tuesday
- Monday
- Sunday
- Saturday
Around seven per cent of the motorway and trunk road network suffers heavy congestion at peak times and a further 13 per cent does so on at least half the days of the year, according to the National Motorway Month research. August is the busiest month on the motorways.
The busiest single link on the motorway network in 2003 was the western section of the M25 (junctions 13 - 14) with 196,000 vehicles per day. However, due to road works on this section, in 2004 the busiest motorway link (carrying 181,000 vehicles per day) was between junctions 16 and 17 on the M60.
The average flow for the M25 as a whole was considerably higher than that of the next busiest motorways, the M60, M27, M1, M6 (south of the M62) and M62 (east of the Pennines at junction 22). The M8 between Glasgow and Edinburgh was the busiest motorway in Scotland.
In 2004, motorways accounted for less than one per cent of road length, but carried 19 per cent of all traffic in England. In Scotland and Wales, motorways carried 14 and 12 per cent of traffic respectively. The North West and South East had the highest percentages of traffic on motorways at 31 and 26 per cent respectively, with the North East and London motorways carrying the lowest percentage of traffic (five and six per cent respectively). Average traffic speeds on trunk roads (including motorways) fell between 1995 and 2003 at all times of the day*, and recent research has shown that congestion on motorways is a serious problem for nearly one third of people**.
In a recent survey***, road works were considered to be the main and most annoying cause of congestion, followed by the overall level of traffic. However research has found that actually only 10 per cent of congestion is caused by road works, whereas 25 per cent is caused by accidents, and 65 per cent by volume of traffic. The average time taken to clear motorways after a major incident, or accident is currently around 5.5 hours.****
The survey also revealed that of those who had used a motorway in the last six months, almost half said they had experienced congestion at some point during their last journey and the majority said they had experienced some or all of this congestion on the motorway section of their journey.
Forty eight per cent of those who had experienced congestion on their last journey involving a motorway said the congestion had added over half an hour to their journey time.
The National Motorway Month partners are today calling for more innovative measures to help cut congestion on our motorways and have produced a list of top priorities for helping ease congestion on the motorway network:
- Real Time Information: The main reason people find congestion annoying is because it makes their journey time unpredictable. The National Motorway Month group believes much of this frustration could be avoided if better real time information was provided to motorists. Currently, only 16 per cent of motorway drivers check the local traffic conditions before setting out on their journey. Of those that did check, 69 per cent had listened to a radio traffic bulletin and 19 per cent had checked Teletext or Ceefax. Greater use of technology such as that on the M8 near Glasgow which shows actual journey times to destinations at various points further along the motorway which also allows other, alternative routes to be considered, would help.
- Stopping rubberneckers - The Highways Agency has announced the trialling of a new screening device, aimed at keeping speeds up on the motorways and stopping drivers from being distracted by roadside accidents. If the trial is successful, the Motorway Month partners would like to see this idea rolled out across the UK motorway network.
- Traffic management measures - Highways Agency and the Scottish Executive should adopt more radical traffic management measures such as more variable speed limits, ramp metering and dedicated lanes, in order to help reduce congestion. In its Motoring Towards 2050 report, the RAC Foundation estimated that these measures could reduce congestion by some 10 -15 per cent.
- Merge in Turn signs - Further use of "Merge in Turn" signs at road works, asking motorists to 'use both lanes', should be considered. These are widely used in Scotland and research has found them effective at cutting nearside lane queuing at road works, and in persuading drivers to develop a measure of give and take when merging.
- Quicker police clear up of accidents - Computer controlled digital image recorders and evidence gatherers, which can record a series of images at any angle at the scene of an incident including an overhead view, could help reduce the time that a road is closed after a collision. These allow police officers to conduct their work at the scene of an incident in a more timely fashion. Such technology should be thoroughly trialled with a view to investment.
- Traffic Officers - The Highways Agency is rolling out traffic officers across its network over the next 12 months. Traffic officers are there to help drivers get moving again after incidents and working with the police to clear delays more quickly. A network of seven new regional traffic control centres will help the police and Highways Agency manage traffic more effectively. Scotland has recently seen the introduction of incident response vehicles to expedite accident clear up on some motorways and trunk roads.
Edmund King, executive director of the RAC Foundation said:
"Motorway congestion is a very serious problem for many motorists, but there are some simple actions that can be taken to ease this. By introducing more variable speed limits, providing motorists with real-time information and using merge in turn signs, we could cut congestion and leave motorists able to enjoy their journey. Motorists will want to see real improvements on the motorways after the introduction of traffic officers."
"Effective traffic management will help but in the longer term we still need to see an expansion in capacity on our motorway network. It is better for the environment and economy to keep traffic on the motorway network rather than rat-running through towns and villages to avoid congestion."
"Motorists should be extra careful driving on a Friday evening as they are more likely to hit congestion or hit other cars."
Research Material:
* DfT Transport Trends 2004
**British Social Attitudes Survey (NatCen).
*** Attitudes to congestion on motorways and other roads - DfT March 2005
**** House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts - Tackling congestion by making better use of England's motorways and trunk roads, June 2005.
According to Trafficmaster the five worst stretches of motorway for congestion are:
1) M25 between J10 and J19 (Western section)
2) M4 between J4 and J12 (Heathrow to Reading)
3) M25 between J21 and J27 (St Albans to M11)
4) M6 between J16 and J22 (Crewe to Warrington)
5) M1 between J6A and J12 (Watford to Toddington)
The Highways Agency National Traffic Control Centre collects and analyses information on traffic conditions and flows from CCTV and in-road sensors. This real time information is available at www.highways.gov.uk/trafficinfo.
RAC Breakdown Cover
posted by Jon Fry at 8:51:00 PM
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