Are there safer week days to commute?
Discussion
Looking for some opinions and maybe some statistics...
I'm in the lucky position that I'm able to commute just 2 days per week as we're increasingly encouraged to work from home (which is nice!).
My commute into central Manchester is about 30 miles and takes about 50 minutes each way on a mix of single carriageway, dual carriageway, and a small section of motorway. I've done all days and not registered any discernible difference myself...
So, thinking about changing my working pattern I have been wondering which 2 of the days to make the commute. My initial thoughts are to commute Mondays and Wednesdays which still breaks the week up and allows me to work from home Fridays (which I want to keep to), but I worry that Mondays might be statistically more dangerous, with car drivers tired after the weekend or maybe grumpy just because it's Monday - does anyone have an opinion or know of any statistics which could prove (or disprove) my thoughts?
Many thanks :-)
TL:DR - Is commuting on a Monday more dangerous than on other weekdays? Any stats to support?
I'm in the lucky position that I'm able to commute just 2 days per week as we're increasingly encouraged to work from home (which is nice!).
My commute into central Manchester is about 30 miles and takes about 50 minutes each way on a mix of single carriageway, dual carriageway, and a small section of motorway. I've done all days and not registered any discernible difference myself...
So, thinking about changing my working pattern I have been wondering which 2 of the days to make the commute. My initial thoughts are to commute Mondays and Wednesdays which still breaks the week up and allows me to work from home Fridays (which I want to keep to), but I worry that Mondays might be statistically more dangerous, with car drivers tired after the weekend or maybe grumpy just because it's Monday - does anyone have an opinion or know of any statistics which could prove (or disprove) my thoughts?
Many thanks :-)
TL:DR - Is commuting on a Monday more dangerous than on other weekdays? Any stats to support?
When I was driving for a living, albeit in a car, Monday mornings and Friday afternoons seemed to be the worst for accidents and aggressive driving.
Friday mornings always seemed to be less stressful and relaxed and a lot quieter. For the rest of the week there really seemed to be difference, still too many cars, to many aggressive drivers and too many hold ups and traffic jams.
Most of this was motorway and major routes.
Friday mornings always seemed to be less stressful and relaxed and a lot quieter. For the rest of the week there really seemed to be difference, still too many cars, to many aggressive drivers and too many hold ups and traffic jams.
Most of this was motorway and major routes.
Monkeylegend said:
When I was driving for a living, albeit in a car, Monday mornings and Friday afternoons seemed to be the worst for accidents and aggressive driving.
this and any day with bad weather / rain however i used to set my days on site to always include mondays as you get them off when its a BH
Ideally Mon and Tue for those long weekends I find that Mon-Wed are the busy days.
Thurs and Fri there is a lot less traffic on all roads.
Being on a bike, it just means you filter a lot more, and it doesn't really cause me any stress or time delay.
We can leave the debate about filtering at 30/40mph on a wide motorway for another day...
Thurs and Fri there is a lot less traffic on all roads.
Being on a bike, it just means you filter a lot more, and it doesn't really cause me any stress or time delay.
We can leave the debate about filtering at 30/40mph on a wide motorway for another day...
Monday mornings by far the worst, then followed by Friday afternoons - x10 if it's a bank holidays Friday.
I have a similar WFH option and I WFH on Monday and Friday. The best day IMO to WFH is Monday, and it's got nothing to do with traffic, it's because it makes Sundays into a really relaxed day. I can swan off down the pub for a few pints at teatime for example. No nagging "got to get up at 6am for work" feeling. It makes me really enjoy Sundays.
I have a similar WFH option and I WFH on Monday and Friday. The best day IMO to WFH is Monday, and it's got nothing to do with traffic, it's because it makes Sundays into a really relaxed day. I can swan off down the pub for a few pints at teatime for example. No nagging "got to get up at 6am for work" feeling. It makes me really enjoy Sundays.
TheCommuter said:
Byronico said:
Agreed.
+1Started commuting into London again. Mondays and Fridays continue to be the worst!
For me top spot goes to Friday evening.
Agree on the Monday mornings / Friday evenings being the worst. Always try to leave earlier on the Monday and leave work early on the Friday and finish off the day's work at home with a beer in hand (not while riding though 😉)
Also Tuesday evenings tend to be one to watch out for too, or at least in South London anyway. Maybe its the absent minded parents dropping their kids off/picking up from after school activities I really don't know but seems worse.
Some of these aforementioned drivers are complete muppets and seem to concentrate more on whatapp and faceache while in slow moving traffic than keeping their eye on the road.
Also Tuesday evenings tend to be one to watch out for too, or at least in South London anyway. Maybe its the absent minded parents dropping their kids off/picking up from after school activities I really don't know but seems worse.
Some of these aforementioned drivers are complete muppets and seem to concentrate more on whatapp and faceache while in slow moving traffic than keeping their eye on the road.
Thanks all - some good points made. I'm especially taken with the point about most bank holidays being on a Monday, but then countered with the relaxed Sunday evening and not worrying about the Monday morning commute.... Overall now torn between making the commutes Monday/Thursday or Wednesday/Thursday. I'll give both a try and see which works best. :-)
Found some interesting accident stats on the gov.uk website (here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-set... if anyone's interested) but couldn't see any day-of-the-week detail. Old Telegraph article (here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/news/the-most-dan... reckons later in the week is the worst time for accidents.
Found some interesting accident stats on the gov.uk website (here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-set... if anyone's interested) but couldn't see any day-of-the-week detail. Old Telegraph article (here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/news/the-most-dan... reckons later in the week is the worst time for accidents.
If you have the choice and don't schedule working from home Monday and Friday then you need to go and have a good look at yourself in the mirror.
Ask anyone who schedules their own work and working from home on Friday is almost universal.
The Bank Holiday Monday is an added bonus for Mondays, but I'd choose not to commute then out of all the days. Monday Mornings is worst, but Monday evenings aren't all that clever either.
As you work in Manchester, and having been caught in horrendous traffic several times for this I might however go out on a limb and say:
Switch to home working days when there's midweek football on.
Edited to add: Number of Accidents per weekday 2018
Source: https://data.gov.uk/dataset/cb7ae6f0-4be6-4935-927... - ACCIDENTS
Vehicles and caualties also available
SUN 13801
MON 17740
TUE 17950
WED 18397
THU 18656
FRI 20021
SAT 16070
Ask anyone who schedules their own work and working from home on Friday is almost universal.
The Bank Holiday Monday is an added bonus for Mondays, but I'd choose not to commute then out of all the days. Monday Mornings is worst, but Monday evenings aren't all that clever either.
As you work in Manchester, and having been caught in horrendous traffic several times for this I might however go out on a limb and say:
Switch to home working days when there's midweek football on.
Edited to add: Number of Accidents per weekday 2018
Source: https://data.gov.uk/dataset/cb7ae6f0-4be6-4935-927... - ACCIDENTS
Vehicles and caualties also available
SUN 13801
MON 17740
TUE 17950
WED 18397
THU 18656
FRI 20021
SAT 16070
Edited by talksthetorque on Thursday 6th February 16:13
Very interesting stats - thanks ttt. That's what I was looking for and couldn't find! I'm surprised that, weekends aside, Mondays would appear to be 'safer' - on the numbers of accidents although I accapt it's very marginal.
btw, your link to the stats doesn't work for me (404 error).
btw, your link to the stats doesn't work for me (404 error).
talksthetorque said:
If you have the choice and don't schedule working from home Monday and Friday then you need to go and have a good look at yourself in the mirror.
Ask anyone who schedules their own work and working from home on Friday is almost universal.
The Bank Holiday Monday is an added bonus for Mondays, but I'd choose not to commute then out of all the days. Monday Mornings is worst, but Monday evenings aren't all that clever either.
As you work in Manchester, and having been caught in horrendous traffic several times for this I might however go out on a limb and say:
Switch to home working days when there's midweek football on.
Edited to add: Number of Accidents per weekday 2018
Source: https://data.gov.uk/dataset/cb7ae6f0-4be6-4935-927... - ACCIDENTS
Vehicles and caualties also available
SUN 13801
MON 17740
TUE 17950
WED 18397
THU 18656
FRI 20021
SAT 16070
Can't read too much into that? Mon - Thursday is higher traffic/slower speeds so possibly less injury accidents. No ranking by severity. They're probably listed as there was an injury.Ask anyone who schedules their own work and working from home on Friday is almost universal.
The Bank Holiday Monday is an added bonus for Mondays, but I'd choose not to commute then out of all the days. Monday Mornings is worst, but Monday evenings aren't all that clever either.
As you work in Manchester, and having been caught in horrendous traffic several times for this I might however go out on a limb and say:
Switch to home working days when there's midweek football on.
Edited to add: Number of Accidents per weekday 2018
Source: https://data.gov.uk/dataset/cb7ae6f0-4be6-4935-927... - ACCIDENTS
Vehicles and caualties also available
SUN 13801
MON 17740
TUE 17950
WED 18397
THU 18656
FRI 20021
SAT 16070
Edited by talksthetorque on Thursday 6th February 16:13
talksthetorque said:
Edited to add: Number of Accidents per weekday 2018
Source: https://data.gov.uk/dataset/cb7ae6f0-4be6-4935-927... - ACCIDENTS
Vehicles and caualties also available
SUN 13801
MON 17740
TUE 17950
WED 18397
THU 18656
FRI 20021
SAT 16070
The crucial bit of data missing here is total number of vehicles travelling. I mean if half the total number of road users are travelling on a Sunday, then suddenly it becomes the most dangerous day of the week by an enormous margin.Source: https://data.gov.uk/dataset/cb7ae6f0-4be6-4935-927... - ACCIDENTS
Vehicles and caualties also available
SUN 13801
MON 17740
TUE 17950
WED 18397
THU 18656
FRI 20021
SAT 16070
Edited by talksthetorque on Thursday 6th February 16:13
Maths isn't my strong point, but I'm pretty sure if you worked out the standard deviation of those numbers (to give some indication of what the difference from the mean average is) it wouldn't be much. To me there doesn't look to be a significant difference between most days except at the extremes of Sundays which I would speculate is due to the lack of road users, but admittedly I wouldn't know what "significant" is in context.
For those two reasons I think we can only continue to speculate wildly... More fun that way too.
I'd go with Friday being the worst personally. Commuters are filth.
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