School runs double journey times

The school run doubles journey times a survey has found

The school run doubles road journey times on the A45 in the morning rush-hour, a survey reveals.

The westbound A45 in Northamptonshire is among the 10 worst school traffic congestion spots, the survey by Trafficmaster has revealed.

During school holidays, a morning journey on a two-mile stretch of the A45 takes five minutes, but this rises to 10 minutes in term-time.

The worst school-traffic impact is on the southbound A629 near Bradford.

Other badly-affected routes include the eastbound A40 near Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, the northbound A339 at Newbury in Berkshire and the eastbound A428 in Bedford.

Philip Hale, spokesman for Trafficmaster, said: "Overall, four-fifths of all our travel in Britain is by car, with average journeys being just six miles.

"School holidays reduce traffic on our roads by approximately 10% from a combination of parents taking holidays and not driving their children to school, but the effects vary widely."