Frequent drivers now lose 43 minutes weekly to traffic jams

Only 15 percent of Netherlands residents are stuck in traffic at least once a week, with most saying that they are much more likely to face difficulties during evening rush hour than in the mornings. The majority, 51 percent, only sporadically end up in a traffic jam. People in the Netherlands are also less and less annoyed by being stuck in traffic jams, defined as stop-and-go traffic that barely rises above 25 kilometers per hour.

While the country's average adult spends about seven minutes per week stuck in traffic, the 15 percent of Netherlands residents who found themselves in a jam every week last year had an average weekly delay of 43 minutes. That totals about 37 hours annually, according to a survey by the knowledge institute for mobility policy KIM.

The figures show that residents of Noord-Brabant faced the worst delays, with traffic jams stealing an average of 57 minutes every week. Residents of the provinces of Flevoland, Zuid-Holland, Utrecht, Noord-Brabant and Noord-Holland most frequently get stuck in traffic.

People surveyed by the KiM said they were more like to simply accept the reality of a traffic jam, or at least resign themselves to the possibility of getting stuck on the roads. Last year 35 percent of Netherlands residents called traffic jams on motorways unacceptable or completely unacceptable - less than half the 72 percent total which said the same ten years ago.

They consider aggression on the road and in public transit, costs and availability of public transit, availability of car parking spaces, road safety, and noise- and air pollution much bigger problems than traffic jams.

But when Netherlands residents are stuck in traffic, they are most annoyed by other drivers driving over the emergency lane, or trying to overtake vehicles ahead of them by cutting through a gas station, the researchers found.