Are UK roads busier than other Euro countries?

[Robertb]

What I'm not sure on is the use of traffic calming in European countries.

I live in the South, and its busy (and has definitely got busier as more housing developments have gone up) but there seems to be a whole load of un-necessary congestion and conflict caused by traffic calming measures, particularly those dangerous and pointless "give way" chicane things.

Just about every rural road in our area has a 50 or lower limit now, and just as Wales gives up on the 20 limits, we seem to be embracing them. Even to the point there was a village survey where we live, which voted against a 20. The county council are still keen to impose one.

I enjoy cycling more than driving much of the time now, because of the freedom. Interestingly though, I've noticed more disapproving looks if I ride at speed (yes I do obey limits) through villages, thanks to the lying hounds at the Telegraph, 52mph cyclists on Embankment lol.

[Riley Blue]

RazerSauber said:

You could drive for hours around Scotland and barely come to a stop. You could drive for hours in London and barely cover a mile. It'll vary massively. The further from London you are, typically the less congested the roads will be.

A few years back I drove from Land's End to John O'Groats and encountered relatively little traffic considering the length of the journey. I kept, as far as possible, to B-roads. Traffic avoidance can be done if you put some effort into it.

[Baldchap]

I drive to Spain and back to the midlands several times per year.

We do it over three days and the journey back pans out as follows:

- Day 1: 954km, 9 hours Inc stops
- Day 2: 850ishkm, 8 hours Inc stops
- Day 3: 545km, typically 9 - 10 hours

Guess which leg is the UK.

We both hate UK day. Crap road surfaces, crap lane discipline, too much traffic. Our roads are a joke compared to much of western Europe. Only Belgium is worse in my opinion.

[Rushjob]

To give you an idea, comparing France and Spain to the UK.

The UK has just under 2 million registered vehicles on 350,000 or so km of roads. 5.7 vehicles per km

France, again just under 2m vehicles on about 1 million km of roads so over twice the space on the road network than the UK. 2 vehicles per km

Spain has just under 1 million vehicles on almost 700,000km of roads so even more space than the UK than France has. 1.4 vehicles per km

[Lotobear]

Rushjob said:

To give you an idea, comparing France and Spain to the UK.

The UK has just under 2 million registered vehicles on 350,000 or so km of roads. 5.7 vehicles per km

France, again just under 2m vehicles on about 1 million km of roads so over twice the space on the road network than the UK. 2 vehicles per km

Spain has just under 1 million vehicles on almost 700,000km of roads so even more space than the UK than France has. 1.4 vehicles per km

How dare you rock up and present facts on a UK bashing thread?

[braddo]

Rushjob said:

To give you an idea, comparing France and Spain to the UK.

The UK has just under 2 million registered vehicles on 350,000 or so km of roads. 5.7 vehicles per km

France, again just under 2m vehicles on about 1 million km of roads so over twice the space on the road network than the UK. 2 vehicles per km

Spain has just under 1 million vehicles on almost 700,000km of roads so even more space than the UK than France has. 1.4 vehicles per km

I reckon England on its own would be 8-10 vehicles per km!

[plenty]

Rushjob said:

The UK has just under 2 million registered vehicles on 350,000 or so km of roads.

I think you may be confusing new-car registrations in one year with registered vehicies. There are 41 million registered vehicles in the UK.

[Rushjob]

plenty said:

Rushjob said:

The UK has just under 2 million registered vehicles on 350,000 or so km of roads.

I think you may be confusing new-car registrations in one year with registered vehicies. There are 41 million registered vehicles in the UK.

You're correct, and it appears that the same is true for the figures I quoted for FR and ES. Oops!!

[plenty]

Your point still holds, however - many more vehicles per mile of road in the UK than in France or Spain.

[kambites]

As others have said, traffic density is very closely related to both population density and wealth. The UK, especially south-eastern England, is both relatively rich and relatively densely populated so it has relatively high levels of congestion but it is by no means exceptional.

[AmyRichardson]

plenty said:

Your point still holds, however - many more vehicles per mile of road in the UK than in France or Spain.

And I suspect people think poor driving, or rather driver responses to the issue of congestion (multi-lane lane discipline being prime example), is an "and" rather than something that follows from a congested road network.

As others have alluded to the UK is very variable compared to more regular-shaped and contiguous countries; there's no German version of Sutherland/Ross-Cromarty.

[Ezra]

Baldchap said:

I drive to Spain and back to the midlands several times per year.

We do it over three days and the journey back pans out as follows:

- Day 1: 954km, 9 hours Inc stops
- Day 2: 850ishkm, 8 hours Inc stops
- Day 3: 545km, typically 9 - 10 hours

Guess which leg is the UK.

We both hate UK day. Crap road surfaces, crap lane discipline, too much traffic. Our roads are a joke compared to much of western Europe. Only Belgium is worse in my opinion.

We also head out to Europe regularly and hate the UK element of our journey back. Road quality, lane discipline, driving standards, aggression, volume etc, etc. I do agree about Belgium too!

[Rich Boy Spanner]

I find most European roads quieter and usually more civilised than the UK. Spanish tailgaters and German traffic excepted. Saying that, most of the UK population lives in a 260 mile corridor from the South Coast to Leeds, with then a bit in the central belt of Scotland. The rest can be surprisingly quiet at times.
I used to drive 350 miles from Manchester to Aberdeen and preferred to any trip heading South.