A survey by INRIX, a leading provider of traffic information and driver services, has revealed that UK drivers sit idle in traffic 46 hours per year on average, compared to 22 hours for commuters in the US.

The analysis of traffic congestion in European and US cities also found that UK roads are at their busiest during Monday morning rush hour while American roads are most congested on a Friday evening.

NRIX Europe general manager Hans Puvogel said: 'Despite drivers spending nearly twice the amount of time stuck in traffic compared to the Americans, traffic in the country's largest cities is much worse than those in the UK. While traffic jams still clog the roads in cities like London and Birmingham, it shows the UK is doing a much better job managing traffic congestion in its major urban centers than its US counterparts.'

Other key findings include:

Trend                                                   UK                                                          US
Worst traffic day                                  Wednesday                                          Thursday
Best traffic day                                    Friday                                                     Monday
Best traffic hour                                   Friday 6-7 AM                                       Friday 6-7 AM
Worst traffic hour                                 Monday 8-9 AM                                    Friday 5-6 PM
Travel Time Tax*                                  22.5%                                                    9.7%

NRIX Traffic Scorecard:                                                                                                          
The top five cities/regions with the most traffic congestion in the UK and the US:

Ranking                        UK                           Annual hrs                US                        Annual hrs    
1st                                 London                    54                                Los Angeles        75
2nd                                Manchester            71                                New York            46
3rd                                 Belfast                     61                                Chicago               36
4th                                 Newcastle               61                                Washington         51
5th                                 Glasgow                  47                                Dallas                  26

* Travel Time Tax (T3): The methodology used to measure overall congestion and to establish Urban Area T3 for each of the weekly 40 peak period drive time hours enables the calculation of total UK Urban Area congestion metrics, by hour, by morning and evening drive time, by day and overall.