Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.
Moving back to Europe after three years living in Bangkok, I thought I had seen the end of the grinding traffic jams which entail sitting in six lanes of hooting cars, taxis, motorbikes and trucks barely creeping forward more than an inch every 10 minutes.
You eventually reach a certain calm acceptance as the time creeps by, and learn to appreciate the precious moments in air conditioning and not stress about something over which you have no control. But that calm appears to have left me after a few years out of Asia. I found myself getting increasingly irate in the back of a stationary cab in the Belgian city of Antwerp as the meter ticked up to €18.85 for a journey that would have taken 15 minutes on foot.
As luck would have it, I have relocated to a country which – according to some surveys – actually has the worst congestion in the world. The INRIX survey reported on the Flanders News website this week put Brussels at the top of its list, with motorists spending an average of 85.4 hours in traffic jams a year. Second on the list? Antwerp, with 76.7 hours. Los Angeles, Milan and London come close behind.
It does, however, all depend on what survey you look at. One by the SatNav company TomTom last year did not even feature Belgium, and decided that Moscow was top of the list.
Before anyone thinks of moving to Asia to escape the traffic, be warned: both those lists shy away from even trying to quantify the traffic chaos in Asia’s congested cities, where it sometimes felt like 85.4 hours were spent in one traffic jam alone.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments