The end of school term will spark the traditional Great British summer holiday getaway this weekend with 8.7m heading away from Friday through to Sunday.
Data from RAC Traffic Watch shows the peak of the weekend’s travel will be on Saturday 22 July with 3.4m heavily laden vehicles making a dash for it.
Friday will see 2.5m cars vie for road space with commuters while Sunday will have more leisure drivers with 2.8m vehicles expected to be en route to their holiday destinations or simply making the most of a warm July weekend.
Based on the travel plans of over 3,100 UK motorists, the RAC predicts there will be as many as 36.5m leisure journeys made over the 17-day period from Friday 21 July to Sunday 6 August, but no one day will see more holiday traffic than this Saturday (22 July) which marks the beginning of the six-week summer school holidays for most families.
RAC traffic spokesman Rod Dennis said, “This weekend will bring unwelcome customary chaos to Britain’s major roads as people flock to take advantage of the first week or two of the summer holidays on home soil.
“While not as busy as Easter which is typically the pinnacle of leisure traffic due to it being the first break for several months, the Great British summer holiday getaway begins with an initial rush for the roads this weekend as that’s when the majority of schools break up.
“But, unlike any other time of year, the country’s major tourist routes will remain steadily busy through the rest of the six weeks, never more so than at the weekend with traffic toing and froing from major holiday locations.”
Anticipated traffic hotspots
M5 Almondsbury Interchange and from Bristol to Taunton
A30 and A38 Exeter to Cornwall
A303 Andover to Ilminster
M4 between Cardiff and Swansea
M25 between Gatwick and M1
A23/M23 to Brighton
A34 and M3 south and south west to the south coast
A47 Swaffham to Great Yarmouth
A11 Thetford to Norwich
M55 between Preston and Blackpool
A14 between the Midlands and the east coast
A590/A591 between the M6 and the Lake District
A66 between M6 and the coast
M53 between Liverpool and Chester