Driving Times on Scotland Roads

No, Google travel times are very optimistic. I added at least an additional 25% of time to those estimates and sometimes that was not enough. So if Google says it will take 90 minutes, count on at least 2 hours.

Wow, that is very helpful to know! That definitely helps with planning and what we will try to squeeze into one day. Thanks!

I think part of the reason they are estimates is because most of us are unfamiliar with the roads and maybe drive slower. On the main roads I find the time estimates to be fairly accurate, but the smaller roads can cause issues. However, Google doesn’t account for traffic, construction, temporary bridge closures, detours, etc.

Also, if using a navigation device, it may try to take you to your destination via the shortest route which might be a back road rather than a better, quicker road.

As mardee suggested, leave yourself plenty to leeway when driving between places.

Google maps appears to calculate the time as if you are driving not far short of the speed limits taking into account the variations of the limits. I would suggest on the main roads, so the undivided A-roads not divided highways or motorways, to look at the distance and calculate your time based on about 40 mph. The limit out of town is 60, and they seem to calculate 60 sections on these roads at around 55 mph. You may be driving stretches close to the limit, and you will see people shoot past well over that limit, but it also does not take into account any breaks for driver and passengers, or to enjoy any views.

On some of the single track roads, where the limit is also 60, 45 for a non local may feel too fast as well. I'd also suggest the 40 speeds there, better to overestimate the time than be pressed to get to where you need to go especially a ferry which is time required.

This has been excellent and helpful info. Definitely helping us to adjust how many things we were going to try to do in a day. Keeping it fluid and will not try to pack to many appointments into one day. And thank you for the reminder to add time to stop and enjoy the views which is part of the reason for the rental and the drive! Wanted to know drive time info 'in general', but in particular was trying to time out the drive from Oban to Inverness which looks to be a beautiful, scenic drive.

I've found driving times pretty accurate, but if you are driving slowly and stopping it will of course take longer.

Out of interest I plugged in Oban to Inverness into both Google maps, and Viamichelin. Viamichelin goes into more detains on any restrictions or obstacles like the swing bridges.

Both pop the journey out 2h30 to 2h45. This in my calculation gives a speed they are calculating it as around 40 to 45 mph. The Viamichelin map shows where the limits drop to 30 in towns, and also to 40 and 50, both take traffic into consideration.

I also popped a pure motorway journey that came in at 1h 12m for 75 miles, so around 65 mph on a 70 road.

So I would say the times are accurate, slightly overestimating the time, taking the speed limit and deducting 10%. But they do not take in anything other than the journey. I would use Google and Viamichelin's times as a start point and the minimum. Someone familiar with the road and on a clear day without the need to stop on route would 'beat' that time. If you want to stop and take in some of the places on route, you could easily be looking at five hours from Oban to Inverness.

Google driving times are best estimates based on routing and predicted traffic delays. They are by default neither pessimistic nor optimistic. Results will of course vary-- but 1/2 the time they will be too much and 1/2 the time they will be too little. (the algorithm retunes on real world data constantly.)

My experience was similar to Mardee; be safe and add 25% for longer journeys such as Inverness to Oban. One other hint, if your using Google Maps is sometimes easier to enter the postal code inserted of the address.

My recent experience in England and Scotland ( last September and October ) was that many towns and villages have gone from 30 mph to 20 mph .. It is wise to be aware of the change .

When I am planning driving routes in both England and Scotland, I use www.theaa.com (click on Route Planner). This website is the equivalent of AAA in the US. For this purpose, I prefer to get driving info from a website that originates in the UK.

"I use www.theaa.com (click on Route Planner). "

Please note that their map clearly says it uses google data.

There are few major cartography companies that supply data and then there is google and few others have their own teams too. (UK postal services for instance uses Trimble maps from their Princeton division(ALK) which used Navtech data-- or least it did ten years ago when I worked with those guys.)

Basic routing is a commodity. Using dynamic routing based on real time traffic and predictive modeling is the game changer. Google et al take data coming back from phones to feed into their algorithms. Higher density routes where n is high are more accurate (smaller standard deviation) than rural/country roads where samples are less frequent. So rural Scotland will have more variation than say Chicago to Indianapolis. +/- 25% is big, surely more than 1 STD for normal routes. On routes where traffic monitoring is more limited, maybe less so. (e.g., one slow moving tractor can slow a column of cars and it might not be fed into the model)

Cheers.

This is actually the direct link to aa route planner- https://www.theaa.com/route-planner/route

It is certainly going to be much better than ViaMichelin. If you click on the middle tab- it gives live traffic news. I don't know whether that is being fed from the National Highways website or not, but for instance I have just looked on that tab for my local area, and it is showing a Road Traffic Accident close to me on what is not a major highway which happened 1 minute ago.
That is the kind of live data you need, although chances are you would have happened on that RTA before you saw it on route planner. This is on an undivided normal single lane each way highway. If traffic is slowing now or at a stand then you will at least know why. And can take a decision on whether to re-route. In this case I can already see traffic slowing on the surrounding minor roads (some very minor) as people start to do exactly that, just at School finishing time. Knowing the local roads, what is now 17 minutes into the incident, there does not seem to be a sensible alternative. In 30 minutes time that should ease, as school traffic clears the back roads.

My experience is that EVERY trip in the UK takes longer than the same distance would in North America. I would try to estimate from Google, and add a percentage of error. You might get stuck behind a farmer on a tractor on some windy country road, and since it is his local area, you just have to suck it up and be patient - don't forget to wave when you pass him. You just never know...

It is certainly going to be much better than ViaMichelin. If you click on the middle tab- it gives live traffic news. I don't know whether that is being fed from the National Highways website or not, but for instance I have just looked on that tab for my local area, and it is showing a Road Traffic Accident close to me on what is not a major highway which happened 1 minute ago.

Well it won't be National Highways in Scotland, lol ;-)

As I understand it, they get the info fed from NH, from Transport Scotland, and Transport Wales for the trunk networks and the local councils. Not sure if it is paid for or not, but I've found most of the time they are accurate.

I have found that driving in Scotland to be quite challenging.

First I find myself driving on the wrong side of the road. Next I get stuck in traffic circles for hours, sometimes days. And finally when I ask for directions and get some kindly gentleman who talks at great length and then I still have to inquire if he speaks English and he then responds he was speaking English, well, it's embarrassing to say the least.

So if google or whatever routing software says it will take 90 minutes, I add 25% and make it two hours 'cause I round up 25% to 33% then I just take the train 'cause trains don't get lost as often as I do. Come to think of it, walking it better still. The west highland way! Wow!

Ah, it's Scotland! It's grand! Seriously, I drive slower in Scotland because the scenery is spectacular.

Cheers.