Stuck in the traffic while getting late with scorching heat blazing through your sunroof, you might think you are on one of the world’s most congested roads. While traffic jams are a norm in metropolitan cities in the world, Dubai isn’t in the top 10 list of world’s most congested cities. INRIX INC, a Washington based research firm released Global Traffic Scorecard report which tells that the American drivers waste around $1,200 per annum (which makes up around AED 4,400) on fuel, health and time.
The Global Traffic Scorecard report gathered around 500 TB of data from almost 300 million sources. The 2016 report highlights Thailand is the most traffic congested country on the planet. Nevertheless, United States witnesses the world’s biggest rush hour traffic delays.
The report concludes an average driver in Thailand spent about 61 hours stuck in traffic in 2016 followed by Indonesia and Columbia with an average of 47 hours wasted.
Getting stuck in Dubai’s traffic so often, you might be wondering the roads here are among the most congested in the world. But the global traffic record seems to suggest that your traffic woes are not as bad as the drivers in Thailand and Columbian. A driver in Dubai spent an average of 29 hours in traffic last year.
Such rapid increase in traffic congestion over the span of last few years has left many of the traffic agencies scratching their heads. Khaleej Times, reported earlier this year that the vehicle density of 540 cars/1,000 individuals in Dubai is not only the highest in GCC, but also a record high in the world. The vehicles in Dubai are increasing with a fast pace. We just had 740,000 vehicles on the road at the end of 2006 and by 2014 it reached to 1.4 million, which means the number of vehicles doubled in just 8 years. That makes up 8.2% average increase per year. And if the trend does not slow down, Dubai would have around 2.2 million automobiles by the end of 2020. This data is provided by the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) Dubai, claiming that around 450,000 cars enter the city every day from different parts of the country and it does no good to the congestion that’s already eroding the city. This situation forces workers in Dubai to spend an average of 1 hour and 45 minutes commuting to and from work.
Another major factor that contributes to the congestion here is the daytime population increase. Around 2.56 million residents of the city see an extra million added to the tally during the daytime. If this continues like this, Dubai’s streets and highways will be world’s most congested roads in the coming few years.
If government fails to tackle this situation, no expansion in the road network of the city would be massive enough to contain the congestion and ease the flow of the ever-growing traffic. With that said, government is working hard to bring the numbers down by running awareness campaigns and educating people on using public transport. The Car-Free day recently was a great milestone in this regard.
The statistics also show that commuters have shifted to public transport. In the first half of 2016, 273,452,791 commuters used public transport which is up from the 271,302,000 commuters during the same interval in 2015.
Peak-Hour Traffic Woes
Most congested countries in the world in 2016
. Thailand: 61 Peak hours spent in congestion
. Colombia: 47
. Indonesia: 47
. Russia: 42
. United States: 42
. Venezuela: 39
. South Africa: 38
. Brazil: 37
. Puerto Rico: 37
. Turkey: 34
Most congested cities in the world in 2016
. Los Angeles, Us: 104 Peak Hours Spent In Congestion
. Moscow, Russia: 91
. New York, Us: 89
. San Francisco, Us: 83
. Bogota, Colombia: 80
. Sao Paulo, Brazil: 77
. London, Britain: 73
. Atlanta, Us: 71
. Paris, France: 65
. Miami, Us: 65
Source: Inrix