UK’s Worst Motorway Junctions to Take A Wrong Turn

By Lewis on 4th March 2019 - View Comments

Ever found you’ve missed your exit? Now panicking about where to go? Wondering how long will the detour take?

Well, the data analysts at Quotezone.co.uk have crunched the numbers and can reveal the UK’s worst motorway junctions to take a wrong turn.

Detours do not only add to the additional mileage and cost of fuel, but it’s the extra time on the road and stress of finding the next junction to correct your course that get to most people.

The number one on our list is the famous M25, or aka ‘The Road to Hell’ per hit song by Chris Rea. This is especially true if you miss your southbound exit on the M26 and accidentally end up on this ‘road to hell’… because you’ll have to travel for another 18 miles on the M25 before you can correct your course.  

Here is a list of the top 10 UK’s worst motorway junctions to take a wrong turn. Do you live near any of them? Do you have a similar experience that you could share?  

Motorway Area Junction Junction Distance (Miles) Detour (Miles) Litres Cost* Time (In Minutes)

1

M26 / M25 Kent J2A J6

18

36

2.77

£3.44

31

2

M11 Cambridge J10 J8

17.5

35

2.68

£3.33

30

3

M6 Lancashire J32 J33

13

26

2

£2.48

22

4

M74 Glasgow J14 J15

13

26

2

£2.48

22

5

M20 Maidstone J8 J9

13

26

2

£2.48

22

6

M4 Chippenham J16 J17

12

24

1.86

£2.31

20

7

M1 Northampton J14 J15

12

24

1.86

£2.31

20

8

M90 Perth J9 J7

11

22

1.68

£2.09

19

9

M6 Stoke-on-Trent J14 J15

11

22

1.68

£2.09

19

10

A1(M) North East J50 J51

10

20

1.55

£1.92

17

*Based on a Ford Fiesta Hatch 3Dr 1.0T EcoB 100 SS ST-Line 6 19MY
Mpg used for this calculation: 58.90 mpg

 

To illustrate it better, here is a great interactive map to reveal the findings so you can see how a wrong turn could impact on the journey – Wrong Turn Map

 

Top Tips if you go the wrong way:

  1. Don’t panic – this will usually lead to making other mistakes
  2. No last minute decisions – deciding to flick the car across a lane without properly planning/checking will result in an incident
  3. Let the sat-nav reroute – most of us use sat-navs these days so let is work out the next best way to go
  4. Pull over when safe – don’t pull over on the hard shoulder but try the next service station or exit and make a plan
  5. Better late than never – don’t drive faster to make up time, stay safe out there

 

Please tell us your stories of missing the junction you needed, I’m sure most of you have done it…

 

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