How much time traffic jams will delay you in SE London and Kent

Information from the Department for Transport (DfT) shows how many seconds drivers will spend at a standstill for every mile they travel on an A road.

For every mile on one of the main roads a car will be delayed:

• 63.9 seconds in Bromley
• 50.2 seconds in Bexley
• 88.4 seconds in Greenwich
• 167.6 seconds in Lewisham
• 34.6 seconds in Kent

So for a daily commute of five miles a driver should add around:

• Five minutes to the journey to get to work on time in Bromley
• Four minutes in Bexley
• Seven minutes in Greenwich
• 14 minutes in Lewisham
• Three minutes in Kent

Anyone travelling 20 miles can expect a delay of around:

• 21 minutes in Bromley
• 17 minutes in Bexley
• 29 minutes in Greenwich
• 56 minutes in Lewisham
• 12 minutes in Kent

The latest statistics, covering 2016, show there has been a rise in delays of:

• Two per cent on the previous year in Bromley
• Four per cent in Bexley
• Seven per cent in Greenwich
• Two per cent in Lewisham
• Four per cent in Kent

Bromley, Bexley, Greenwich and Lewisham drivers are right if they get furious about traffic jams, as they are delayed more than the majority of England.

The opposite is true for Kent motorists.

The country overall has an average delay time of 45.9 seconds per mile, which was a 2.8 per cent increase on 2015.

While the DfT hasn't yet released localised data for 2017, it has unveiled the England-wide numbers which show the average delay has increased once again to 46.4 seconds.

Queues can be caused by anything from fuel spills, emergency repairs and broken-down lorries, to congestion during peak times.

And the figures appear to show that traffic jams, one of Britain's least popular national pastimes, are getting worse.

All of this impacts speeds on A roads, where England's average is 25mph despite speed limits ranging between 30mph to 70mph on anything from small urban roads to dual carriageways.

For 2016:

• Motorists in Bromley chugged along at 20.1mph, slower than Usain Bolt over the 100m. This was slower than the previous year by two per cent.
• The speed for Bexley drivers was 25.1mph, roughly the same speed as a galloping horse, two per cent down.
• Greenwich drivers meandered along at 18.5mph, only slightly faster Mo Farah over a mile, four per cent slower than the previous year.
• Speed in Lewisham was just 11.2mph, slower than your average commuter on a bike. A decrease of two per cent.
• And motorists in Kent managed 29.1mph, again roughly the same speed as a galloping horse, but slower than the previous year by one per cent.

In October the government wrote to Highways England, which runs major A roads and motorways, demanding a reduction in delays after the transport data company Inrix revealed traffic jams on UK roads cost the economy £9bn a year.