New data from Waze has shown an average increase of 11% in daily driven kilometres on UK roads last weekend (16-17 May) compared to the previous weekend (9-10 May); less than might have been expected after lockdown restrictions were lifted slightly.

The Waze data indicates a minor rise in traffic, indicating that drivers are still heeding stay at home advice

The data also revealed that in London last weekend (16-17 May), there was an average increase of 7% in daily driven kilometres on the capital’s roads compared to the previous weekend (9-10 May).

Since lockdown began on 23 March, there has been a 70% decrease in daily kilometres driven by Waze users on British roads compared to the February daily average for a two-week period (2/11/2020-2/25/2020)

Dani Simons, head of public sector partnerships at Waze, said: “At Waze, we encourage motorists to follow their local government’s guidelines, while we make it easier for people who really do need to make essential journeys to get where they need to be.

“As soon as the Covid-19 outbreak began, we activated our community and network of partners across our Volunteer Communities, Waze for Cities programs and more to support crisis response, ensuring that users who needed to drive could continue to do so in the safest and most informed way.

“It is positive to see that UK Wazers are listening to guidelines and not taking advantage of the slight lifting of lockdown measures, with a minor increase of 11% driven kilometers last weekend compared to the weekend before.”