RAC warns of a long ‘Bad’ Friday on the roads this Easter

The RAC is warning anyone planning to getaway this Easter to expect a long ‘Bad’ Friday on the roads as over five million motorists take to their cars for some well-earned time away.

RAC Traffic Watch data shows a total of 16.8m car journeys will be made over the Easter weekend as people make the most of the long weekend visiting family and friends or enjoying a break in the spring weather somewhere different.

RAC spokesman Simon Williams said: “Easter traditionally sees the first big getaway of the year but this time we are expecting an unprecedented number of cars to be using major roads for leisure trips.

“Some years Maundy Thursday before the Easter weekend can be exceptionally busy but this year Good Friday is the day everyone seems to be planning to head off which is why we are warning people to expect it to be a long, mad ‘Bad’ Friday on the roads.”

RAC Traffic Watch data predicts Thursday’s leisure trip* volume to be in the region of 3.3m with Saturday seeing 3.9 m journeys and Easter Sunday 4.2m. The peak day for return journeys will, of course, be the bank holiday Monday when we can expect 3.6m heavily packed cars to be heading for home. This means from Maundy Thursday to Bank Holiday Monday there will be over 20m cars using the country’s major roads either heading to or returning from getaway breaks.

Simon Williams added: “The usual main road arteries will inevitably suffer the consequences of so many people trying to getaway for the double bank holiday weekend by car. The advice has to be to head off as early as possible to beat other travellers and to expect heavy traffic and jams on major routes.”

Easter traffic hotspots

Easter Getaway Peak Travel Times

Date

Best travel times

Busiest travel time

Maundy ​ ​ Thursday 24 March

Before 4pm or after 8pm

5-6pm

Good ​ ​ Friday 25 March

Before 9am and after 4pm

12pm

Saturday ​ ​ 26 March

Before 10am and after 4pm

12pm

Easter ​ ​ Sunday 27 March

Before 10am and after 4pm

12pm

Bank ​ ​ Holiday Monday 28 March

Before 12pm and after 6pm

12pm

Highways England is finishing or pausing work on 208 roadworks projects covering around 450 miles over the bank holiday weekend which will mean 97% of routes will be unclogged by 6am on Thursday 24 March.

To help plan a journey, download the free RAC App for iPhone or Android smartphones or visit www.rac.co.uk to use RAC Route Planner, which gives the most up to date road information available including incidents and ongoing roadworks and weather. 

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