16 million on road to chaos in Bank Holiday getaway
BANK Holiday travellers face chaos with an expected 16.5 million drivers expected to hit the roads tomorrow.
A huge increase in car journeys means some stretches of road will have twice as many vehicles as normal.
Transport information supplier Inrix warned that the M25, M4, M1, M5, M27 and M6 are expected to be particularly badly hit.
Airports will be busy with Heathrow expecting more than 440,000 passengers to depart over the weekend.
Gatwick is preparing for 311,000 outgoing passengers, with 103,000 due to fly from Stansted.
A poll by Confused.com revealed 52 per cent of British motorists are planning to make their trip by road.
While 15 per cent will be heading away for a short UK break, 22 per cent will visit friends and family and one in five will head out on a day trip.
Breakdown company Green Flag said it expects there will be nearly 40,000 breakdowns over the weekend.
These are expected to include more than 8,000 flat and faulty batteries, more than 5,000 punctures, 3,400 engine faults and 1,295 broken clutches. There was more bad news for motorists as a study yesterday confirmed that sitting in traffic jams is bad for your health.
The University of Surrey research found that pollution levels inside cars are up to 40 per cent higher in jams compared to free-flowing traffic.
Researcher Dr Prashant Kumar said: “Where possible, one of the best ways to limit your exposure is by keeping windows shut, fans turned off and to try and increase the distance between you and the car in front while in traffic jams or stationary at traffic lights.
“If the fan or heater needs to be on, the best setting would be to have the air recirculating within the car without drawing in air from outdoors.
“Of course improving the efficiency of filtering systems of vehicles in future could further benefit to curtail the on-road exposure in such situations.”