Beijing Traffic 5 Times Worse Than Los Angeles, USA's Worst

Beijing has the worst traffic jams in the world, as record traffic levels take their toll on people's health, productivity and social lives, a study by IBM said Wednesday.

Photo: Beijing Traffic 5 Times Worse Than Los Angeles, USA's Worst

Beijing and Mexico City scored 99 out of 100 in IBM's commuter pain index, followed by Johannesburg, Moscow and New Delhi. Traffic in Beijing was nearly five times worse than Los Angeles, the worst traffic of all US cities, scoring 25.

IBM surveyed 8,192 motorists in 20 cities on six continents, based on 10 issues, including commuting time, time stuck in traffic and the traffic flow's impact on stress, anger and work, Global Times reports.

Moscow outshined its rivals for the longest traffic jams, averaging 2.5 hours -- the world average was one hour. Instead, in Buenos Aires, Melbourne and Stockholm, 25 percent or more commuters said they have never been stuck in traffic.

IBM blamed most commuter troubles on the failure of infrastructure to keep pace with global economic activity.

Naveem Lamba, IBM's global industry chief for intelligent transportation, said traditional solutions such as building more roads was not enough to cope with the surge of traffic in rapidly growing cities.

"Multiple solutions need to be deployed simultaneously to avoid a failure of the transportation networks," he said in a statement.

"New techniques are required that empower transportation officials to better understand and proactively manage the flow of traffic," according to AFP.