Why is traffic always worse on Friday?

A number of people commute to places in the week and so need to commute back home on Fridays. Additionally, people will resist working late on Friday and these factors lead to traffic peaks in the evening rush hour. Monday mornings tend to be bad too.



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After Saturday, Friday and Thursday make a close second and third. However, aside from the week, certain holidays – centered around drinking or traveling home to family – are some of the worst for fatal car accidents: July 4th, as well as the day before.

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Many people take Fridays off, or work a modified work schedule on Fridays, he says. More people work early on Friday to ensure they do not have to work late, hence morning traffic is more evenly distributed.

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As most commuters know, "some days are worse than others." Pile high demand (say, a Friday before a three-day weekend) on top of heavy rain and a lane-blocking crash, and you've got the ingredients for severe congestion.

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If you are looking for the best day to drive long-distance, Sunday is the day that tends to have the least amount of traffic on the roads.

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If you are looking for the best day to drive long-distance, Sunday is the day that tends to have the least amount of traffic on the roads. However, Tuesdays have the least amount of crashes according to the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration).

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Today, it's best to get on the roads before 7 a.m. and tomorrow before 11 a.m. As for the weekend, the best times on Saturday and Monday are in the evening, around 6 or 7 p.m. Experts say that Sunday is statistically the lightest traffic day so that might be a good time to hit the road, as well.

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If you are trying to decide the best time to leave for a road trip, it is early in the morning between 5:00 am and 6:00 am. This is because there is less traffic on the roads and statistically the fewest amount of accidents during this time frame.

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A lot of people take Fridays off for long weekends. And many that do go in on Fridays go in late and/or leave early. In anticipation - and in buildup from the rest of the week - people are especially regimented on Thursdays and hit the road at normal rush hour times, creating a relatively unusual glut of traffic.

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Before the pandemic, traffic in most U.S. cities followed a similar pattern: a peak around 6 a.m. and another, slightly higher one around 5 p.m. But now, the number of drivers on the road increases throughout the day, with a sharp rise in the morning that balloons into a higher peak in the evening.

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New York City has the worst rush hour traffic in the U.S., according to a TomTom study. TomTom recently published its 12th annual Traffic Index, which measures rush hour traffic in 389 cities in 56 countries on six continents.

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The transportation analytics company INRIX says the best times for your road trip are before 11 a.m. on Friday, after 6 p.m. on Saturday and after 7 p.m. on Monday. It expects minimal traffic impact on Sunday.

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While mornings and afternoons are safer, there are some exceptions. Rush hour traffic, which typically runs from 8 AM to 10 AM in the morning, and then again from 4 PM to 7 PM in the evening, plays a part in safety too. With the influx of cars at these peak times, the roads become more dangerous.

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