Life without motorways…a game of two halves...plus extra time and possible penalties

Fans setting off to Premier League fixtures next weekend by road would have to give themselves an extra eleven and a half hours to get there if we did not have motorways, according to the RAC Foundation during National Motorway Month.

They would also be less likely to arrive at all. Motorways are the UK’s safest roads. If Britain had no motorways, an extra 600 people would die on the roads - an increase of 20 per cent.

National Motorway Month is a four-week campaign promoting safer motorway driving. The campaign is jointly run by the RAC Foundation, the Institute of Advanced Motorists, the Freight Transport Association and BSM Driving Schools.

The Premiership League Table for fans saving most time by travelling on motorways this weekend shows:

Blackburn
Watford
Spurs
Middlesbrough
Fulham and Man City

Blackburn fans travelling to Portsmouth make the biggest time saving by taking motorways rather than other roads (saving 105 mins). Fans from newly promoted Watford are in at second place with savings of 100 minutes. Spurs fans on the way to Bolton cut out just over ninety minutes by sticking to motorways. Boro fans off to newly promoted Reading save ninety minutes plus four minutes added on time. Fulham fans going to Old Trafford and Man City fans visiting Stamford Bridge drew in equal fifth place as both save 74 minutes.

These figures were compiled using www.rac.co.uk routeplanner to work out the time differences between using motorways or not. Many motorists complain about motorways but tend to forget what it was like trying to get around the UK before the motorway network was constructed.

Motorway fact-file

In England, motorways account for less than 1% of the total road length but carry nearly 20% of traffic. In Scotland, motorways form just 0.7% of the roads but carry 14% of traffic, while in Wales, motorways form only 0.4% of the road network but must carry 12% of traffic.

In the last ten years there has been a 36.6% increase in motorway traffic, but only an 8% increase in motorway length.

When the M6 Preston by-pass, the first stretch of motorway, opened in 1958, there were 7 million vehicles on the road, and only one-third of British households had access to a car. Today there are 32 million vehicles on the road, and two-thirds of British households have access to one or more cars.

One-third of British motorists agree that motorway congestion is a serious problem in the UK (British Social Attitudes Survey). The Highways Agency estimates that most congestion is caused by volume of traffic (65%), then accidents (25%) and road works (10%).

The M25 is 118 miles long.

There are 68 services stations on the network.

When Norwich City FC was in the Premiership some teams hated travelling there due to the lack of motorway (or even dual carriageway) access.

In a poll for National Motorway Month last year sixty per cent of motorists had a favourite motorway - with the M1 coming out tops. The M1 is essential for soccer trips such as Watford FC to Sheffield Utd. One third of drivers said the M25 is their least favourite motorway to drive on, followed by 15 per cent who cited the M6 as the road they love to hate. These motorways are also the nation’s busiest, suggesting that congestion and volume of traffic on motorways are key to deciding the least favoured. However a love-hate relationship exists as some motorways polled in the favourite top ten as well as in the least favourite top ten motorways.

When asked which of the following factors were most important in deciding which was their favourite motorway, respondents replied:

23 % - lack of traffic/congestion.
14 % - route to visit family/friends.
7 % - route to holiday destination.
5 % - nice scenery.
5% - best work commute route.
4% - quiet road surface.
1 % - plenty of service areas.

Edmund King, Executive Director of the RAC Foundation said: “We tend to forget what life was like without motorways. Remember trying to get from Heathrow to Gatwick without the M25? Blackburn fans driving to Portsmouth would not contemplate the journey without using motorways. Premiership fans will save the equivalent of 7 matches plus two lots of extra time by sticking to motorways on their way to Premiership matches this weekend.

“ Soccer fans and WAGs keen to avoid extra time on their journeys should check out the best motorway routes and travel conditions before setting off.

“Motorists seem to have a love- hate relationship with motorways. They love them for getting to sporting events faster but hate getting caught up in congestion.”