Traffic jams in the Rotterdam area were the worst in the Netherlands last year

Drivers spent the most time stuck in traffic jams in Rotterdam, where people lost about 42 hours in congestion last year. That is equivalent to more than a full-time work week, according to navigation device manufacturer TomTom and its annual traffic overview. Compared to the previous year, the delay in Rotterdam increased by about 25 percent.

The Hague and Nijmegen were also in the top for the Netherlands. In both cities, people lost 40 hours in traffic jams. Haarlem, Eindhoven, Arnhem, Amsterdam, Breda, Leiden and Tilburg were also in the top ten. In all of those cities, people wasted more than 30 hours standing still on the pavement.

The delays in the Netherlands were dwarfed by Dublin, Ireland, the city with the worst delays worldwide. Last year, people there needed an extra 145 hours, equivalent to more than six full days, to get to and from their destination. London was also particularly difficult for drivers. During rush hour, motorists in the center of the British capital manage to achieve an average speed of only 14 kilometers per hour.

Haarlem was the slowest city in the Netherlands, with an average speed of 43 kilometers per hour.

TomTom bases the list on data from hundreds of millions of navigation devices, built-in systems and smartphones. The researchers not only look at the highways, but also at the roads within and around the cities.

For the first time, the Dutch company also looked at carbon dioxide emissions per kilometer driven. London topped that list. A petrol car there emits 1,133 kilograms of the greenhouse gas annually. In Rotterdam, that total was 825 kilograms.

The second largest city in the Netherlands is also where Dutch motorists likely used up the most fuel. They had to spend an average of 756 euros on petrol.

A year ago it was relatively quiet on the roads, when there were still many restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic, but now that is a thing of the past, according to TomTom. "Although we have learned a lot from the coronavirus pandemic, we have seen people fall back into old habits en masse in the past year. Many companies abolished working from home or reversed flexible working hours. This is reflected on the road: we are back to taking the car every day, and are again largely back to traffic jams."

As a result, travel times increased in twelve of the seventeen Dutch cities studied.