As predicted, long traffic jams are forming on roads leading to popular holiday destinations, including Italy, France and Switzerland.
Motorists had to be particularly patient if they were driving through or to Austria, France and Switzerland. In Austria, traffic was slowed for several hours on the A10 motorway between Salzburg (north) and Villach (south), according to the Dutch road safety association ANWB.
Major Swiss roads were also congested, particularly the A2 motorway to Italy, whilst in France, there were slowdowns on the popular Autoroute du Soleil between Lyon and Marseille, however, traffic in the rest of the country was experiencing little to no problems.
In Germany, motorists are tailgating for about ten kilometres near Nuremberg, while near Cologne, the A61 is still closed due to damage from last week's floods. Traffic is therefore being diverted to the other routes.
Road safety company Touring had warned earlier this week that traffic jams heading southwards to popular holiday destinations were to be expected from Friday afternoon.
Holidays abroad
For those looking to travel to France, heavy traffic in this direction started on Saturday, which was classified as a red day traffic-wise, meaning cars risked getting stuck in long queues starting early in the morning until late afternoon.
Most of the traffic jams on holiday red days are expected to be in the Rhone valley (A7 and A8), on the motorways along the Mediterranean (A8 and A9) and on the motorway heading southwest (A10).
Aside from the Mediterranean route, the Île-de-France region (Paris and its surroundings) is the only region where heavy traffic is also expected on Sunday. All other routes should experience more fluid traffic.
People travelling to other holiday destinations further afield, including Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Spain, will experience heavy traffic on Saturday, however, Touring predicts that on Sunday, there will be fewer hold-ups within these regions.
For the first time since the start of this summer, traffic jams are also expected in the opposite directions, as many people who left on holiday in the previous weeks are returning to Belgium.
On Sunday, the traffic will be more fluid for the return journey, with limited traffic jams in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
The weekend of 30 July to 1 August is expected to be the worst when it comes to traffic this month.
