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The most congested cities in Europe have been revealed with some drivers spending almost half an hour to travel just 10 kilometres. Car rental experts at StressFreeCarRental.com have crunched the numbers to find the drivers who are spending the most time sitting in their cars. London drivers experience the worst congestion in Europe – travelling at an average of just 14 kph during rush hour.
Motorists in Dublin experience the second worst congestion in the continent, driving at an average speed of 17 kph at peak periods. Bucharest and Paris both make the top five of the heaviest traffic jams, both taking over 25 minutes to drive just 10 kilometres. Drivers in Italy also experience long wait times sitting in traffic, as Milan, Rome and Turin make the top 10 list also.
Wroclaw and Hamburg rank at the ninth and tenth worst congested cities in Europe, with an average speed of 20 kph and 23 kph respectively, during rush hour. Brussels also has some of the busiest roads in Europe, with drivers spending over 25 minutes making just 10 kilometres of progress during peak travel times.
The 10 most congested cities in Europe, revealed by StressFreeCarRental.com:
| Rank | City | Average time to travel
10 km (minutes) |
Average speed
in rush hour (kph) |
| 1 | London | 36.2 | 14 |
| 2 | Dublin | 28.3 | 17 |
| 3 | Milan | 27.3 | 18 |
| 4 | Bucharest | 27.2 | 17 |
| 5 | Paris | 26.1 | 19 |
| 6 | Rome | 25.4 | 20 |
| 7 | Brussels | 25.3 | 20 |
| 8 | Turin | 25 | 21 |
| 9 | Wroclaw | 24.3 | 20 |
| 10 | Hamburg | 23.1 | 23 |
A spokesperson for StressFreeCarRental.com said: “It’s unsurprising to see London at the top of the league table – living in one of the most populated cities in Europe means that you’ll be driving at an average of just 14 kilometres an hour at rush hour.
“Of the top 10, it’s only drivers in Wroclaw, Poland and Hamburg, Germany who can make a 10 kilometre journey in less than 25 minutes. “For motorists in the busy cities of Turin, Brussels and Rome, the journey will take an average of 25.2 minutes.
“But it’s even worse news for drivers in Paris, Bucharest, Milan, Dublin and London where a 10 kilometre trip will take close to half an hour.“Drivers are experiencing slow moving traffic every day – with an average speed of only 18.9 kph during rush hour across Europe as a whole.
“And many motorists are spending over 40 minutes doing their daily commute because of how congested European city roads have become. “This is frustratingly slow and none of us particularly enjoy spending longer than we already do sitting in our cars while we miss out on things we would rather be doing.
“But it is surprising not to see some of Europe’s biggest cities on the list – Wroclaw ranking above Berlin is surprising when you consider the population and congestion reputation in Germany. “What we might be seeing is the result of differing levels of investment into improving roads and public transport from city to city. “As we try to meet targets on pollution and emissions, European leaders need to invest more time and money into helping the traffic flow more freely.
“This might involve bringing in more congestion charges for motorists in these cities, pumping more funding into improving roads as well as public transport systems, to tackle congestion across Europe.
