Throughout 2022, Danish motorists spent around 350,000 hours daily stuck in traffic on the country’s roads, totaling 80 million hours over the entire year. According to a new analysis from the Road Directorate (Vejdirektoratet), this massive amount of wasted time has resulted in a socio-economic loss of a whopping 31 billion Danish kroner. The analysis indicates that even though traffic congestion has returned to pre-pandemic levels, which can be seen as a sign of economic recovery, there are still serious consequences associated with the long queues.
Andreas Egense, department head at the Road Directorate, highlights the negative aspects of the situation. “Besides being annoying to sit in traffic on the highways, it is also costly for society. We waste time, it reduces the labor supply, and it makes transporting goods and services expensive,” he says in a press release. Although data for 2023 is not yet fully compiled, it is expected that traffic congestion has increased even further. This could potentially mean even greater economic losses and challenges for both motorists and the broader society.