Boxing Day - motorway traffic

[deltic]

I have just spent 8 hrs driving on various motorways today. Not used to motorway driving at this time of year I was surprised by the high volume of traffic. Apart from first thing in the morning, it was virtually bumper to bumper all the time and with few trucks on the road it was generally fast moving. Is it always this busy on Boxing Day?

 

[Hadders]

I have just spent 8 hrs driving on various motorways today. Not used to motorway driving at this time of year I was surprised by the high volume of traffic. Apart from first thing in the morning, it was virtually bumper to bumper all the time and with few trucks on the road it was generally fast moving. Is it always this busy on Boxing Day?

I used various motorways and trunk roads yesterday and today. Volume of traffic was normal for Christmas, but far lower than a normal Thursday or Friday.

 

[Ted633]

Boxing Day is always carnage on the motorways. It’s even worse if you don’t have the extra bank holidays / weekend like we have this year!

 

[Hadders]

Boxing Day is always carnage on the motorways. It’s even worse if you don’t have the extra bank holidays / weekend like we have this year!

It depends what you mean by carnage. Do you normally travel on motorways on Fridays? It's generally quieter than a normal Friday with fewer lorries.

 

[thejuggler]

Didn't travel yesterday, but just done 200 ish miles from Scottish borders to Leeds and the main queues were due to volume of traffic at motorway junctions. M6 to A66 was a couple of miles, long queue to get into Scotch Corner services at end of A66. Wetherby service slip rammed (also Wetherby races today, but punters would have been at the track at the time we passed).

I 'escaped' at Wetherby and used cross country routes as the indication was heavy traffic until A1/M1 due to roadworks.

 

[WelshBluebird]

Basically no public transport, people travelling to / from families, football fans, boxing day sales etc. Not that surprising that its busy surely?

 

[Ted633]

It depends what you mean by carnage. Do you normally travel on motorways on Fridays? It's generally quieter than a normal Friday with fewer lorries.

Yes, im a regular M25 commuter. Tend to find Thursdays are the worst days now!

 

[Bletchleyite]

I found it quiet myself, whereas on the 27th it was heaving.

 

[Bald Rick]

I have just spent 8 hrs driving on various motorways today. Not used to motorway driving at this time of year I was surprised by the high volume of traffic. Apart from first thing in the morning, it was virtually bumper to bumper all the time and with few trucks on the road it was generally fast moving. Is it always this busy on Boxing Day?

I spent four hours on the M1 / M6 - much quieter than a normal Friday at the times I used it. Indeed quieter than any normal day of the week.

 

[DelW]

Boxing Day on the A303/M3 wasn't empty, but was definitely quieter than an ordinary weekday. Only a very short queue either way at Stonehenge in the middle of the afternoon, and nothing anywhere else.

 

[route101]

What about the New Years Eve, New Year and the 2nd? The 2nd is not a holiday in England.

 

[notverydeep]

Boxing Day traffic will have the profile of a typical bank holiday and will be similar to a Saturday, in that the times of day / locations that are busiest on a Saturday will likely be busiest on Boxing Day.

So a comparison with Friday is likely to show both busier times such as mid morning and afternoon and quieter times for example a journey at normal morning peak time…

This pattern will also be true of the public transport that does operate, such as London Underground and long distance coach services.

This pattern will dominate the whole period between Christmas and New Year and will be somewhat similar on adjacent work days such as December 23rd and January 2nd. These days will have some ‘normal commuting’ traffic, but much reduced by those taking holiday or working from home.

Since 2009, the normal peak traffic on the ‘working days’ between Christmas and New Year has declined significantly. Looking at London Underground passenger numbers, commuter peak traffic was reduced compared to normal levels, but still evident in the early 2000s, but has disappeared in the years since, such that these days are now very similar to the adjacent bank holidays.

 

[The exile]

This pattern will dominate the whole period between Christmas and New Year and will be somewhat similar on adjacent work days such as December 23rd and January 2nd. These days will have some ‘normal commuting’ traffic, but much reduced by those taking holiday or working from home.

This particular year I would expect 2 January to be much quieter than 23 December, being a Friday sandwiched between between a bank holiday and the weekend.

 

[jfollows]

This particular year I would expect 2 January to be much quieter than 23 December, being a Friday sandwiched between between a bank holiday and the weekend.

Yes, I’m going to my dentist on Friday morning for an 8am appointment for which I will drive around the M60, my dentist is in Prestwich, don’t ask why, but I don’t expect heavy traffic. Then I’ll probably drive into Manchester for the Chinese supermarket on Oldham Road, again I wouldn’t normally do this on a regular working day.

EDIT Little traffic compared to normal at 7am, but a high percentage of incompetent and impaired drivers, I came across one accident, fortunately too late to see it happen but not so late that the traffic queue got too long, and subsequently either an accident or breakdown slowed things down again. Plus cars weaving across lanes and driving too slowly. And then when I was almost at my destination my appointment was cancelled, so I had to turn round and head back home. Anyway, I survived without damage.

 

[ABB125]

I did the M5 between J9 and J2 this morning (around 0730). Very quiet. And unexpectedly good lane discipline on the 4 lane section north of Worcester! It suddenly became rather snowy after the M42 (lovely view of the snow on the Lickey Hills), I saw two separate accidents before turning off. The 3rd lane had not been properly cleared at this point, so quite slushy and slippery...

Return journey (around 2230) was even quieter, especially south of Worcester. No snow though

 

[Tetragon213]

In my experience, Boxing Day tends to be very busy, especially around larger towns with shopping centres. Boxing Day Sales are given a boost by the number of people who receive money or giftcards for Christmas, and put it to use immediately. I would like to say I'm not guilty of this, but I am absolutely 100% guilty of this, having gone to Swindon's outlet to do some shopping.

I strongly suspect that Sunday 4th will be very busy, as a lot of people will be coming off Annual Leave and returning to their homes after the holidays before Monday morning. With the rise in WFH, I suspect this will continue into Monday evening as well, as those with the option of hybrid working will use that to have one last day with family before returning to base.