With the May Bank Holiday and the start of half term in many parts of the country almost upon us, the RAC is predicting huge numbers of cars on the road this weekend.
Working with transport analyst INRIX, the motoring organisation reckons almost 18 million road trips are being planned for the Bank Holiday weekend, with the worst traffic chaos likely to be on Friday 23 May and Saturday 24, with 3.4 million trips expected to be made by car on both days.
Best navigation apps 2025
The number of car trips will dip a little to 2.7 million on Sunday 25 May, before rising again to 3.0 million on Monday 26 May for the Bank Holiday itself.
On top of these numbers reflecting journeys already planned, the RAC thinks a further 5.4 million journeys will be undertaken on still-to-be-decided dates across the long weekend, with drivers unsure when they’ll hit the road.
If you want to do your best to avoid the other 17,999,999 weekend road-trippers, the RAC advises making a very early start, or waiting for the rush to die down each day. It says that 68 per cent of drivers plan to travel between 5am and mid-day, but the bulk of them expect to leave after 8am. If you leave your journey until after 7pm, you’ll be sharing the roads with just 3 per cent of drivers planning road trips.
