By Luke Smith
The city of Leicester has officially been classed as one of the most congested cities in Britain, according to a recent TomTom traffic survey.
The city is the tenth largest in the UK and the eleventh most congested.
Journey times in the Leicester area are increased by over a third by traffic in comparison to free flowing roads. This means that Leicester is officially more congested than Liverpool, Glasgow, Leeds and Birmingham, all cities with a population of at least double that of Leicester.
8 out of 10 people believe that Leicester is too congestedIn an anonymous survey, from ten DMU students asked, eight felt that Leicester was too congested.
In the same survey, five of the ten people felt that the public transport network was to blame, whilst three of the remaining five said they never used public transport.
This backs up plans by Leicester City Council Local Transport Plan, carrying the motto ‘Planning for people, not for cars’ and aiming to be complete by 2026.
DMU student Ross Barnett said: “I would not drive in Leicester if you paid me a pension, but then I do come from Belfast so I can see the congestion issue.”
Belfast was found to be the most congested city in the UK with journey times increased by 43% due to traffic, 11% more than Leicester.
5 out of 10 people believe the public transport system is to blameConor de Smith, another student, said: “It does [surprise me that Leicester is so congested]. It shouldn’t be that congested for one of the smaller cities, but then perhaps bigger cities have more of a budget to fix the issue.”
Student Alex Blackwell, a regular driver and resident of Leicester, said: “One of the main issues is surely public transport because it always feels like we are playing catch up with bigger cities.
“Another issue could also be the extensive one way system around the city.”
