Why in News:

• A recent study has ranked Mumbai as the most traffic-congested city in the world for the second straight year, and Delhi at fourth place.

Traffic Index 2018

• Traffic Index 2018 is published by TomTom, an Amsterdam-based company that offers traffic solutions, uses location technology to collect traffic information, and has been publishing city rankings for eight years.
• The latest index ranks 403 cities across 56 countries, including 13 new cities.
• For this study, congestion has been defined in terms of the additional time taken to reach a destination as opposed to when the road would have been clear of traffic.
• Mumbai’s 2018 congestion level of 65%, therefore, means that the extra travel time is 65% more than an average trip would take during uncongested conditions.
• For Delhi, by the same yardstick, the extra travel time is 58% more.
• TomTom states that it factors for peak hours, accidents, inclement weather, construction work and all other factors likely to cause disruptions. It adds that its statistics are “calculated using GPA data from navigation devices, in-dash systems and smartphones”.

More in News:

• Globally, traffic congestion is rising.
• It is both good, and bad, news. It’s good because it indicates a strong global economy, but the flip side is drivers wasting time sitting in traffic, not to mention the huge environmental impact. Nearly 75% of the cities part of the 2018 index had increased or stable congestion levels between 2017 and 2018, with only 90 cities showing measurable
  decreases, states the report. Globally, Christmas Day resulted in the least traffic congestion. Drivers in Tel Aviv and Istanbul stood to save the most time by avoiding driving during morning and evening rush hours. In Delhi and Mumbai, traffic congestion during morning and evening peak hours varies between 73% and 102%.
• The index found that traffic flows most freely between 2 am and 5 am in both cities.