Morning rush hour is a miserable time for most of us, but drivers in this county face this difficulty on a different scale. Awarded the dubious honour of “most congested county”, Hampshire is in desperate need of improvements.
Claims.co.uk has crunched the numbers and analysed public data on traffic congestion throughout 2022 and produced a list of the worst-afflicted areas.
Each local authority received a ‘congestion score’ out of 100, with vehicle numbers, travel distance, and road users considered.
Topping the list, unfortunately, was Hampshire, swiftly followed by Essex, Surrey, and Kent.
As per Claims.co.uk, Hampshire is the most congested county with an eye-watering score of 83.01, just above runner-up Essex’s 81.5.
Surrey came in third with 78.22, then Kent with 78.22, which was followed by fifth place Lancashire with a much lower 63.63.
According to the research, Hampshire beat every other county for the number of vehicles on its roads.
A whopping 1.13 million vehicles were licensed in Hampshire in 2022, which clogs up the roads quickly. The county’s residents also drove the second-highest total number of traffic miles.
Unsurprisingly, the bottom spot for congestion was claimed by the Orkney Islands, which scored a mere 2.24 out of 100.
A Claims.co.uk spokesperson commented on the situation, providing a possible explanation
They said: “The amount of traffic congestion in a given area can differ drastically depending on factors such as how many vehicles are registered there or how many miles are travelled each day.
“Hampshire is known for its large amount of tourism due to picturesque locations such as the New Forest, though it is still surprising to see the area receive such a high final score.
“Considering how varied the results are for congestion level factors in 2022, it will be interesting to see how these rankings might change next year and whether any of these local authorities maintain similar scores in the list.”
