School run 'doubles journey times'

The impact of the school run on London's road congestion is laid bare today by a new survey.

The sheer weight of pupils now travelling by car instead of walking doubles the amount of time spent in traffic for thousands of other drivers.

New figures compiled for the Evening Standard by Trafficmaster show that during half-term average journey times in the capital were slashed by up to 50 per cent.

Main arteries leading into the capital were carrying significantly reduced levels of traffic.

The survey - using the organisation's sophisticated network of traffic cameras and roadside sensors- - reveals that the route worst affected by the school run is the A41 from Mill Hill to Regent's Park.

At rush hour the journey into work normally takes 52 minutes in bumper-to-bumper traffic. This week however, as thousands of schoolchildren stayed at home, the journey time was slashed to 27 minutes.

Other examples detected by Trafficmaster include the A1 from Mill Hill to Upper Street, Islington, with journey times down by 35 per cent to 40 minutes. On the A10 from Waltham Cross to Stoke Newington, journey times were down by 37 per cent to 34 minutes. A similar pattern emerged on a network of major roads across the capital.

Denis Chick, Trafficmaster's Director of Communications, said: "There are now two peaks, at 8am and 9am during school term time, effectively extending the rush hour period by a further hour.

"Motorists are already familiar with the easier traffic patterns in holidays but analysing our traffic data in detail, it reveals the marked effect that additional cars and buses can have."