Drivers are likely to face severe congestion at the weekend, with this year’s late May bank holiday set to be the busiest on the roads since beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic . More than 20 million “leisure trips” will be made by car between Friday and Monday, the RAC predicts, while The AA says that more than half of the drivers in the UK will be on the road at some point over that period. Its research suggests that the worst day to travel will be Friday 24 May as four million journeys are planned, with the long weekend coinciding with the start of the half-term break for UK schools.
And the RAC is warning that traffic could be at its worst since the same weekend in 2019, when over 22 million drivers took to the road. Traffic volume looks set to remain consistently high throughout the period, with 3.7 million trips expected to take place on Saturday 25 May, while 3.
4 million journeys are anticipated on both Sunday and bank holiday Monday. Day trips are the main reason drivers will be getting in their car over the weekend, with 22 per cent stating that they’ll use their car for a day out with friends or family. Others intend to spend a day in the countryside or by the beach (8 per cent), while staycations are the reason for getting behind the wheel for 7 per cent of those questioned by the RAC.
Separate research by The AA shows that the vast majority of drivers are yet to decide on their destination. However, it anticipates that “coastal destinations and theme park.
