Brighton and Hove is fifth most congested city in Britain, says satnav firm

Brighton and Hove is the fifth most congested city in Britain, according to the satellite navigation (satnav) business TomTom.

And, it said, congestion has worsened over the past year.

Traffic moves 31 per cent more slowly than it would in normal or free-flowing conditions, compared with 30 per cent a year ago.

The figures are worse during the morning and evening rush-hours.

The fourth annual traffic survey report from TomTom also suggested that drivers using rat-runs may end up taking longer to reach their destinations.

It added that British commuters spend the equivalent of ten working days a year stuck in traffic, up from nine days a year ago.

In Leeds and Bradford the situation has improved, TomTom said, with Bristol the only other place among Britain’s 17 biggest cities where there had been an improvement.

The company said that it had analysed more than ten trillion pieces of data worldwide to compile its traffic index.

It found that Moscow remained the most congested city globally with congestion at 74 per cent, rising to 141 per cent in the evening rush-hour.

Istanbul (62 per cent) was second, followed by Rio de Janeiro (55 per cent) – and that’s before the football World Cup begins.

Belfast topped the table in Britain, with congestion at 36 per cent. London, Edinburgh and Bristol were all worse than Brighton and Hove.

TomTom chief executive Harold Goddijn said: “Traffic congestion is nothing new and continues to be a global challenge.

“The traditional responses to congestion, such as building new roads or widening existing ones, are no longer proving to be effective.

“Real-time traffic information can help drivers find the quickest shortcut on their journey and assist governments to make smarter decisions to improve traffic flow for their cities.”

The company estimated that time lost as a result of traffic congestion cost the British economy £2 billion a year.

It said that the situation was likely to worsen despite a £28 billion plan for road improvements.

The government has forecast four million more drivers on British roads by 2030 and that, by 2040, the volume of traffic will have risen by 40 per cent, TomTom said.