TomTom recently announced the results of its 2012 Congestion Index. Essentially, TomTom measures traffic congestion in 161 major cities across the world and compares it the Congestion Index from the previous year. South Africa’s overall congestion level, according to TomTom, is 25%, which is to say the average journey in congestion takes approximately 25% longer than it should ‘normally’.
On average, journey times in Johannesburg have increased by as much as 30% and a delay of 43 minutes per every hour of normal travel time can be expected when driving in peak periods. Nevertheless, in comparison to the 2012 Congestion Index, levels have actually decreased. TomTom say this decline can be attributed to road improvements.
Cape Town’s congestion has also decreased by 1% from 27% in 2011 to 26% in 2012. Durban’s congestion has increased by 2% over the last year from 16% to 18%. TomTom’s index is uniquely based on real travel time data captured by vehicles driving the entire road network.
The top ten most congested global cities, ranked by overall congestion level, in 2012 are:
| Position | City | Congestion |
| 1 | Moscow | 66% |
| 2 | Istanbul | 55% |
| 3 | Warsaw | 42% |
| 4 | Marseille | 40% |
| 5 | Palermo | 39% |
| 6 | Los Angeles | 33% |
| 7 | Sydney | 33% |
| 8 | Stuttgart | 33% |
| 9 | Paris | 33% |
| 10 | Rome | 33% |
TomTom’s Congestion Index, including individual continent and city reports, can be found at www.tomtom.com/congestionindex