The road to hell... is worst in Turkey

The good people at TomTom have surveyed major cities around the world to list them in order of congestion – and it's a great guide of all the world's traffic black spots you might care to avoid on your next overseas holiday.

Fortunately, a quick review of the top ten worst traffic-tangled urban centres reveals few top-flight holiday destinations among them.

The list, compiled in 2014, canvasses 200 cities from around the globe. According to TomTom's findings, evening peak hour is the worst time of day to attempt a drive anywhere in a major city – with travel time likely to be at least double the time required during off-peak hours.

To work out how badly congested cities were during peak hour, the company analysed real-world travel-time and route point data gathered by GPS.

Istanbul, Turkey, takes out the top spot in the survey. As the two infographics indicate, Istanbul rates 58 per cent for an overall congestion level, but during the evening peak hour, that rises to 109%, meaning it takes 109 per cent longer to reach a destination than during an off-peak time.

Only one American city appeared in the top ten list for cities with a population exceeding 800,000 – Los Angeles, the centre (center?) for US car culture.

"TomTom's mission is to reduce traffic congestion for everyone," said Ralf-Peter Schaefer, VP TomTom Traffic, as quoted in a press release.

"Road authorities and local governments can use TomTom's traffic data to better manage traffic flow during the rush hour. We can help businesses plan smarter working hours to help their employees avoid travelling during rush hour. And we give drivers the real-time traffic information and smart routing they need to avoid congested roads and get there faster."

Easily the least congested city in Australia (not counting capitals Hobart and Darwin, which didn't make it into the survey), is Canberra, with a congestion level of just 17 per cent.

It will come as no surprise that Sydney is Australia's most congested city, according to the list, with a congestion level of 35 per cent and ranked 21st among the cities surveyed for traffic congestion. In contrast, with a congestion percentage of 28 per cent and on a ranking of 60, Melbourne is only marginally worse than the regional city of Christchurch, in New Zealand's south island.

And proving Melburnians don't know how good they've got it, as visitors to Australia who've driven in both Sydney and Melbourne will readily attest, Melbourne's traffic congestion isn't as bad as that of New Zealand's capital, Wellington (29%) or its largest city, Auckland (32%).

Furthermore, Melbourne's percentage is just one point higher than Perth's (27%) and just three points higher than Adelaide and Brisbane (both on 25%).

Now, about that whole East-West Link business...?