12 sensors · 1 May 2026 to 15 June 2026

The best time to drive the M6

Name: M6 congestion by hour of week
Creator: National Highways
License: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

GOSunday 07:00Quietest daytime hour, 64 mph average

AVOIDWednesday 08:00Slowest daytime hour, 50 mph average

Photo: Andrew Abbott, Geograph, CC BY-SA 2.0, resized

The quietest daytime hour on the M6 is Sunday at 07:00, averaging 64 mph. The worst is Wednesday at 08:00, averaging 50 mph. Measured from National Highways roadside sensors between 1 May 2026 and 15 June 2026, not estimated.

Measured, not estimated
Daytime 06:00 to 22:00

The whole week at a glance

Darker means slower

Average speed on the M6 for each hour of the week, shaded by how far below normal it runs.
Day	00	1	2	3	4	5	06	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23
Mon	Mon 00:00, 61 mph, 2% below normal	Mon 01:00, 60 mph, 3% below normal	Mon 02:00, 60 mph, 3% below normal	Mon 03:00, 61 mph, 3% below normal	Mon 04:00, 61 mph, 2% below normal	Mon 05:00, 62 mph, 1% below normal	Mon 06:00, 57 mph, 9% below normal	Mon 07:00, 55 mph, 13% below normal	Mon 08:00, 55 mph, 12% below normal	Mon 09:00, 57 mph, 9% below normal	Mon 10:00, 57 mph, 9% below normal	Mon 11:00, 57 mph, 9% below normal	Mon 12:00, 57 mph, 9% below normal	Mon 13:00, 58 mph, 8% below normal	Mon 14:00, 57 mph, 9% below normal	Mon 15:00, 56 mph, 11% below normal	Mon 16:00, 56 mph, 11% below normal	Mon 17:00, 56 mph, 11% below normal	Mon 18:00, 58 mph, 8% below normal	Mon 19:00, 61 mph, 3% below normal	Mon 20:00, 61 mph, 3% below normal	Mon 21:00, 59 mph, 5% below normal	Mon 22:00, 59 mph, 6% below normal	Mon 23:00, 59 mph, 5% below normal
Tue	Tue 00:00, 59 mph, 5% below normal	Tue 01:00, 58 mph, 6% below normal	Tue 02:00, 58 mph, 7% below normal	Tue 03:00, 59 mph, 6% below normal	Tue 04:00, 60 mph, 4% below normal	Tue 05:00, 61 mph, 3% below normal	Tue 06:00, 55 mph, 13% below normal	Tue 07:00, 51 mph, 19% below normal	Tue 08:00, 50 mph, 21% below normal	Tue 09:00, 54 mph, 13% below normal	Tue 10:00, 56 mph, 11% below normal	Tue 11:00, 56 mph, 10% below normal	Tue 12:00, 56 mph, 10% below normal	Tue 13:00, 56 mph, 11% below normal	Tue 14:00, 55 mph, 13% below normal	Tue 15:00, 55 mph, 12% below normal	Tue 16:00, 54 mph, 14% below normal	Tue 17:00, 53 mph, 17% below normal	Tue 18:00, 55 mph, 13% below normal	Tue 19:00, 60 mph, 4% below normal	Tue 20:00, 61 mph, 3% below normal	Tue 21:00, 58 mph, 8% below normal	Tue 22:00, 58 mph, 8% below normal	Tue 23:00, 58 mph, 7% below normal
Wed	Wed 00:00, 58 mph, 8% below normal	Wed 01:00, 58 mph, 7% below normal	Wed 02:00, 58 mph, 7% below normal	Wed 03:00, 58 mph, 8% below normal	Wed 04:00, 58 mph, 7% below normal	Wed 05:00, 60 mph, 4% below normal	Wed 06:00, 55 mph, 12% below normal	Wed 07:00, 53 mph, 16% below normal	Wed 08:00, 50 mph, 21% below normal	Wed 09:00, 52 mph, 18% below normal	Wed 10:00, 55 mph, 12% below normal	Wed 11:00, 56 mph, 10% below normal	Wed 12:00, 57 mph, 9% below normal	Wed 13:00, 56 mph, 11% below normal	Wed 14:00, 56 mph, 11% below normal	Wed 15:00, 54 mph, 14% below normal	Wed 16:00, 53 mph, 16% below normal	Wed 17:00, 52 mph, 18% below normal	Wed 18:00, 55 mph, 14% below normal	Wed 19:00, 60 mph, 4% below normal	Wed 20:00, 61 mph, 3% below normal	Wed 21:00, 58 mph, 7% below normal	Wed 22:00, 56 mph, 10% below normal	Wed 23:00, 58 mph, 8% below normal
Thu	Thu 00:00, 58 mph, 7% below normal	Thu 01:00, 58 mph, 8% below normal	Thu 02:00, 57 mph, 9% below normal	Thu 03:00, 57 mph, 8% below normal	Thu 04:00, 59 mph, 6% below normal	Thu 05:00, 60 mph, 4% below normal	Thu 06:00, 55 mph, 12% below normal	Thu 07:00, 53 mph, 16% below normal	Thu 08:00, 51 mph, 19% below normal	Thu 09:00, 53 mph, 15% below normal	Thu 10:00, 54 mph, 13% below normal	Thu 11:00, 55 mph, 13% below normal	Thu 12:00, 56 mph, 11% below normal	Thu 13:00, 56 mph, 11% below normal	Thu 14:00, 56 mph, 11% below normal	Thu 15:00, 54 mph, 14% below normal	Thu 16:00, 52 mph, 17% below normal	Thu 17:00, 53 mph, 15% below normal	Thu 18:00, 55 mph, 13% below normal	Thu 19:00, 59 mph, 5% below normal	Thu 20:00, 62 mph, 2% below normal	Thu 21:00, 59 mph, 6% below normal	Thu 22:00, 59 mph, 6% below normal	Thu 23:00, 59 mph, 6% below normal
Fri	Fri 00:00, 59 mph, 6% below normal	Fri 01:00, 59 mph, 6% below normal	Fri 02:00, 58 mph, 7% below normal	Fri 03:00, 59 mph, 6% below normal	Fri 04:00, 59 mph, 6% below normal	Fri 05:00, 60 mph, 4% below normal	Fri 06:00, 57 mph, 10% below normal	Fri 07:00, 54 mph, 14% below normal	Fri 08:00, 54 mph, 14% below normal	Fri 09:00, 55 mph, 12% below normal	Fri 10:00, 55 mph, 12% below normal	Fri 11:00, 55 mph, 12% below normal	Fri 12:00, 55 mph, 11% below normal	Fri 13:00, 55 mph, 11% below normal	Fri 14:00, 54 mph, 14% below normal	Fri 15:00, 53 mph, 15% below normal	Fri 16:00, 52 mph, 19% below normal	Fri 17:00, 53 mph, 17% below normal	Fri 18:00, 56 mph, 12% below normal	Fri 19:00, 59 mph, 5% below normal	Fri 20:00, 61 mph, 3% below normal	Fri 21:00, 59 mph, 6% below normal	Fri 22:00, 57 mph, 9% below normal	Fri 23:00, 59 mph, 6% below normal
Sat	Sat 00:00, 59 mph, 5% below normal	Sat 01:00, 59 mph, 5% below normal	Sat 02:00, 59 mph, 6% below normal	Sat 03:00, 59 mph, 6% below normal	Sat 04:00, 60 mph, 4% below normal	Sat 05:00, 62 mph, 1% below normal	Sat 06:00, 63 mph, -1% below normal	Sat 07:00, 63 mph, -1% below normal	Sat 08:00, 62 mph, 0% below normal	Sat 09:00, 61 mph, 3% below normal	Sat 10:00, 60 mph, 4% below normal	Sat 11:00, 58 mph, 7% below normal	Sat 12:00, 57 mph, 9% below normal	Sat 13:00, 58 mph, 8% below normal	Sat 14:00, 59 mph, 6% below normal	Sat 15:00, 59 mph, 5% below normal	Sat 16:00, 59 mph, 6% below normal	Sat 17:00, 60 mph, 4% below normal	Sat 18:00, 61 mph, 3% below normal	Sat 19:00, 61 mph, 2% below normal	Sat 20:00, 63 mph, 0% below normal	Sat 21:00, 62 mph, 1% below normal	Sat 22:00, 61 mph, 2% below normal	Sat 23:00, 62 mph, 2% below normal
Sun	Sun 00:00, 62 mph, 2% below normal	Sun 01:00, 62 mph, 1% below normal	Sun 02:00, 61 mph, 2% below normal	Sun 03:00, 62 mph, 1% below normal	Sun 04:00, 62 mph, 1% below normal	Sun 05:00, 63 mph, -1% below normal	Sun 06:00, 64 mph, -2% below normal	Sun 07:00, 64 mph, -2% below normal	Sun 08:00, 64 mph, -2% below normal	Sun 09:00, 63 mph, 0% below normal	Sun 10:00, 61 mph, 3% below normal	Sun 11:00, 59 mph, 5% below normal	Sun 12:00, 59 mph, 6% below normal	Sun 13:00, 59 mph, 6% below normal	Sun 14:00, 59 mph, 5% below normal	Sun 15:00, 60 mph, 4% below normal	Sun 16:00, 59 mph, 5% below normal	Sun 17:00, 60 mph, 5% below normal	Sun 18:00, 61 mph, 3% below normal	Sun 19:00, 62 mph, 1% below normal	Sun 20:00, 63 mph, 0% below normal	Sun 21:00, 62 mph, 0% below normal	Sun 22:00, 61 mph, 2% below normal	Sun 23:00, 62 mph, 1% below normal

FasterSlower

Each square or bar is one hour, shaded by how far below its normal speed that stretch runs. Hover or tap for the exact figure, or pick Table for every number.

Rush hour on the M6

Weekdays, from the sensor archive

MORNING RUSH HOUR

07:00 to 09:00

Worst at 08:00, about 17% below normal speed on a weekday

EVENING RUSH HOUR

15:00 to 18:00

Worst at 17:00, about 15% below normal speed on a weekday

The rush hour is the run of hours around the weekday peak that are at least halfway from the road’s usual midday level up to the peak. Rush hour times on every road.

Your commute on the M6

What changing your leaving time is worth

How much the hour matters

Daytime only, 06:00 to 22:00

Weekend against weekday

Average speed at each day’s worst hour

Weekend58 mph

Weekday51 mph

Bars run from 0 to 64 mph, the road’s best daytime hour.

Minutes you save

Sunday 07:00
64 mph47 min

Wednesday 08:00
50 mph60 min

13 minsaved on a 50-mile trip

Other trip lengths: 10 miles saves 3 min, 25 miles saves 7 min. Worked out from the average speed along the whole M6 at each hour, so a trip through its worst junction at rush hour loses more than this.

How many vehicles use the M6?

Department for Transport counts, 2025

On a typical stretch

99,800 a day

Both directions added together, averaged over 2025.

Busiest stretch, near J20

188,000 a day

Lorries are about 14% of all traffic on the M6.

From the Department for Transport’s road traffic statistics for the 99 stretches of the M6 in England. “Typical” means half the road’s length carries more than this and half less. DfT counted 62% of these stretches in 2025 and estimated the rest from earlier counts. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Roads that meet the M6

The best time to drive each

Traffic near places on the M6

From the sensors in each area

The M6 on camera

Real photos, credited, never stock

The M6: Joining the M6 from the Gravelly Hill interchange — **The M6**Photo: Andrew Abbott, Geograph, CC BY-SA 2.0, resized

Dashcam view on the M6 — **Dashcam on the M6**Taken Tuesday, 28 May 2019 at 6:24pm, UK timePhoto: chrisw100, Mapillary, CC BY-SA 4.0, resized

The M6 road card

The picture people see when this page is shared

Where the M6 slows down

Sensor by sensor, in junction order

NormalMuch slower

Northbound, slowest: about 300 m from junction 6, Gravelly Hill Interchange, in Birmingham, 22 mph (55% below normal)
Southbound, slowest: about 2.4 km from junction 6, Gravelly Hill Interchange, in Birmingham, 26 mph (59% below normal)

Each dot is one roadside sensor, placed at its nearest junction, so the line shows the order of junctions rather than distance. All 12 sensors are shown.

The hour to avoid, day by day

Daytime only, 06:00 to 22:00

SunAvoid 13:00 (59 mph)Clearest 07:00

MonAvoid 07:00 (55 mph)Clearest 20:00

TueAvoid 08:00 (50 mph)Clearest 20:00

WedAvoid 08:00 (50 mph)Clearest 20:00

ThuAvoid 08:00 (51 mph)Clearest 20:00

FriAvoid 16:00 (52 mph)Clearest 20:00

SatAvoid 12:00 (57 mph)Clearest 06:00

The hour to avoid is listed first because it is the one that actually varies. The clearest hour tends to be whichever end of the day you look at, so on most roads it lands on the last hour before the cut-off and says the same thing every weekday. Night is excluded for the same reason: 3am is fastest on every road in the country, which is true and useless.

The five quietest daytime hours

Sunday 07:0064mph

Running at its normal speed · about 1,465 vehicles an hour

Sunday 06:0064mph

Running at its normal speed · about 1,004 vehicles an hour

Sunday 08:0064mph

Running at its normal speed · about 1,963 vehicles an hour

Saturday 06:0063mph

Running at its normal speed · about 1,462 vehicles an hour

Saturday 07:0063mph

Running at its normal speed · about 2,021 vehicles an hour

Day by day on the M6

Every hour of each day

By direction on the M6

Each way, on its own

Questions about the M6

When is the best time to drive the M6?

The quietest daytime hour on the M6 is Sunday at 07:00, when traffic averages 64 mph. The next clearest hours are Sunday at 06:00, Sunday at 08:00, Saturday at 06:00. These are measured averages from National Highways roadside sensors on the road itself, recorded between 1 May 2026 and 15 June 2026, rather than estimates or predictions. Daytime means 06:00 to 22:00 here, because 3am is the fastest hour on almost every road in England, which is true and useless for planning a journey. Roadworks, collisions and weather are not part of the average, so this describes the road's typical rhythm rather than a forecast for any particular day.

When is the M6 at its busiest?

The slowest daytime hour on the M6 is Wednesday at 08:00, averaging 50 mph, about 21% below the speed the road runs at when it is clear. The other hours worth avoiding are Tuesday at 08:00, Tuesday at 07:00, Thursday at 08:00. Because the comparison is against this stretch's own free-flowing speed, "slower" here always means slower than the M6 normally runs, not slower than some national average. Measured from roadside sensors between 1 May 2026 and 15 June 2026. It is an archive of what usually happens, so it cannot account for an incident on the day you travel.

Is the M6 quieter at the weekend?

At its worst hour, the M6 averages 58 mph on a weekend day against 51 mph on a weekday. So the weekend is the quieter time to travel, by roughly 6 mph at the worst point of the day. Both figures are averages measured from roadside sensors between 1 May 2026 and 15 June 2026, not live readings.

What time should I avoid on the M6 each day?

The hour to avoid moves through the week. On the M6 the slowest daytime hour is: Monday 07:00 (55 mph), Tuesday 08:00 (50 mph), Wednesday 08:00 (50 mph), Thursday 08:00 (51 mph), Friday 16:00 (52 mph), Saturday 12:00 (57 mph), Sunday 13:00 (59 mph). The busy hour is listed rather than the clear one because it is the figure that actually varies: the clearest hour tends to land at one end of the day on almost every road, so it says much less about this one. All figures are averages from National Highways roadside sensors between 1 May 2026 and 15 June 2026.

How are these times measured?

Every figure comes from National Highways roadside sensors, the WebTRIS network, which count vehicles and record average speeds on the carriageway itself. Readings between 1 May 2026 and 15 June 2026 were grouped by day of the week and hour, then compared against the road's own free-flowing speed. This is an archive rather than a live feed: it describes the pattern the M6 usually follows, and it does not know about a collision, roadworks or bad weather today. Always check live conditions before you set off, and never check them while driving. The underlying data is published under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Best time to drive other roads

40 more with sensor history

See what is closed on the M6 now