Combining this with the expected increase in traffic levels, as many families head off for the last break before Christmas,Trafficmaster expects traffic to build from around 10.00am onwards on Friday the 23rd October, with the busiest traffic at around 3.00pm.

Trafficmaster

Before you set off on your journey on Friday you can always try the link to the Trafficmaster live traffic information map from the Comparecontracthire.com website. This link shows all the hotspots throughout the UK (courtesy of Trafficmaster) and you can quickly zoom in and out to any part of the UK to see where the problems are.

Trafficmaster’s top ten congestion hotspots for Black Friday are:

The AA and Trafficmaster, the road traffic information and satnav tracking company, have published a new report confirming that UK road congestion has fallen 31% since the credit crunch began two years ago. The report, Congestion, An Economic Barometer, also concludes that congestion levels have been linked to major financial events and economic issues, like the collapse of Northern Rock.

The major findings show:

- 23% of commuters currently not working said they had lost their jobs in the last 12 months. This has had an impact on peak traffic times which has seen weekday morning traffic down by 15%.

- 20% of all commuters said that economic circumstances had also led them to work from home. In addition 14% had used public transport and 12% had shared cars, to try and reduce the cost of motoring.

- 67% of commuters said they would double the distance travelled in their daily commute, to keep their job, which is a statistic that might affect future congestion levels.

Trafficmaster map

The August Bank Holiday is falling late in the month and heavy traffic congestion is forecasted by Trafficmaster, the UK’s leading vehicle information and satellite navigation and tracking company, for this coming weekend. They are predicting around a 30% increase in traffic on popular holiday routes on Friday the 21st August 2009.

Many schools are starting their Autumn term during the first week in September so many people will probably see this as a last chance to get a holiday in for all the family, especially if the weather is good. There are several festivals on over the weekend, for example the V-Festivals in Shropshire, the Notting Hill Carnival, Blackpool illuminations switch-on, air festivals at Bournemouth, Shoreham and Old Warden (Bedforshire) and of course the football season is well underway. 

Trafficmaster is a partner of Comparecontrachire.com and on the Home Page is a link to their live road UK traffic map. This shows all the road congestion points throughout the UK and you can zoom in or out to your particular area. This traffic map is updated every few minutes or so and we recommend you use this if you are setting off this weekend , so you can plan ahead and avoid the hotspots.

Top hotspots predicted by Trafficmaster are as follows