MNjbjs

Can anyone tell me what traffic blackspots are in the UK. My AA route planner from Gatwick to Brad-on-Avon show a few traffic blackspots. Is there an alternate route when and if we come upon road closings or road construction? Are we directed to an alternate route? Thanks

rkkwan

I believe they are areas with high accident rates.

owain

These blackspots are simply about congestion. You're going to be using some of the busiest roads in Europe. If there were alternative routes, they'd also be busy (although you can sit down with a map an plan a meandering cross-country route, if time isn't crucial).

Other than avoiding peak times (i.e. mornings/evenings/holiday weekends/days with a Y in them), there's not a lot you can do.

Mucky

Hi MNjbjs,
If you go to the AA site again but the travel watch area
http://www.theaa.com/travelwatch/travel_news.jsp

You can see up to date problems in the region you want to see.

To be honest these are almost the same areas daily.

Unfortunately the government here are incapable of seeing this and do very little to improve things. Except placing speed cameras everywhere ....sorry....I digress !!

Muck

MissPrism

Most car radios have a feature where the
local station will break into a programme to give you the latest traffic news.
There is a button you press "TA" or something similar.
Ask the car-hire person about it.
In our car, it works even if the radio is off and we are listening to CDs

nona1

a traffic blackspot is just congestion. If a road is closed for some reason there may or may not be diversion signs to follow. Last weekend part of the M25 was closed due to an accident but there were no alternative route or diversion signs. Luckily for me it was near my local patch so I could find my way through to where I wanted to go. It doesn't happen very often though so you'd be extremely unlucky to get involved in anything like this.

Otherwise it's just a case of sitting in a traffic jam. Try not to travel during rush hour. Have a decent map/atlas in the car.

nona1

Any planned closures, such as road works, will have diversion signs taking you round them.

Alec

If your rental car comes equipped with satellite navigation unit (for which you normally pay extra - worth it in my view), it usually shows traffic conditions and suggests alternatives.

Kate

I really wouldn't worry about it. Traffic blackspots will attract congestion at peak times (morning or late afternoon mid-week, bank holidays, Sunday late afternoons, that kind of thing). But as others have said, you can't always do much about it. Buy a good roadmap from a service station and, if you hit bad traffic on a motorway, you can use this map to plot alternative routes. But I wouldn't plan alternative routes in advance as
1) unless there's a problem, motorways will always be significantly faster than any other route
2) traffic blackspot does NOT mean these roads are always at a standstill.