Drivers have rated the M5 the best motorway in England for 2023 – and the A303 the best road.

The accolades come from a new satisfaction survey of motorways and major roads by independent watchdog Transport Focus, with the M40 – which links London and Birmingham – ranked the No.2 motorway and the A30, which runs from London to Land’s End, the second-best road.

The M6 is declared England’s worst motorway and the A27 comes bottom of the entire list, with an overall satisfaction score of 59 per cent.

The study quizzed more than 9,000 users about their last journey on a motorway or major ‘A’ road managed by National Highways, with those polled asked to rate their journey times, the management of roadworks, surface quality, how safe they felt, the quality of the permanent signage and the electronic signs.

The top-rated M5, which connects the Midlands with the South West, has an overall satisfaction score of 82 per cent, thanks to road users being satisfied with their journey time, the traffic flow and the road not being too busy during their journey, Transport Focus said.

One driver said of the M5: ‘Clear road, and signage was clear for roadworks that were taking place.’

Commenting on the silver-medal-winning M40, one driver said: ‘Traffic not too heavy, road in good condition.’

The A303, which runs from Basingstoke in Hampshire and takes drivers past Stonehenge and on to Honiton in Devon, receives an overall satisfaction score of 85 per cent, the highest in the table.

One driver said: ‘Great road. Not much traffic. Beautiful scenery. Stop off points. No delays.’

Despite running through some of the most picturesque scenery in the land in Cumbria, the M6 – the UK’s longest motorway – receives an overall satisfaction rating of 66 per cent, far below that of the M5.

One driver using the M6 said: ‘Terrible tarmac conditions in places, matrix signs not up to date, unwarranted smart motorway speed limits.’

The bottom-ranked A27, meanwhile, which runs from Wiltshire to East Sussex, was slated by one driver for harbouring huge amounts of rubbish in the verges.

They said: ‘The trip was fine. What is such a shame is the amount of rubbish on the sides of the roads. I have travelled on this road for nearly 30 years and the amount of rubbish in the past few years has got much worse. They used to pick up rubbish – what has happened?’

The A12, which runs from London to Lowestoft in Suffolk, ranks second from last in the table with an overall satisfaction score of 61 per cent. One driver describes its surface as ‘terrible’.

Transport Focus said that overall, 73 per cent of road users were satisfied with their last motorway or major ‘A’ road journey, an improvement on last year’s 69 per cent – and that journeys on smart motorways had lower levels of satisfaction with road users than those that did not include a smart section (smart 69 per cent, not smart 76 per cent).

Anthony Smith, chief executive of Transport Focus, said: ‘England’s motorways and “A” roads are at the heart of how many of us move around the country. It’s good to see the M5 and M40 perform well.

‘As the so-called backbone of Britain, the M6 is a vital route which National Highways must continue to focus on, [to] deliver safe, smooth journeys. We’ll continue to keep pushing National Highways to improve these issues.’

BMW drivers have been voted the rudest motorists on Britain’s roads, followed closely by those behind the wheels of Audis.

The results come from a nationwide survey, with BMW drivers voted by 50 per cent of those polled as the most impolite, with Audis drivers garnering 28 per cent of the vote.

The rest of the top five in the ranking comprises Mercedes-Benz drivers (third, 17 per cent), Land Drover drivers (fourth, 15 per cent) and Porsche owners (fifth, 11 per cent).

On the other side of the coin, Ford drivers were voted the politest with 21 per cent of the vote, followed by Kia (16 per cent), Toyota (15 per cent) and Nissan owners (15 per cent).

The data reveals that BMW drivers are the most likely to hog the middle lane (38 per cent), brake suddenly to scare the person behind them (34 per cent), overtake (25 per cent), and not merge until the very last minute (35 per cent).

If that wasn’t rude enough, they are also considered the drivers who would honk at someone for driving too slowly (37 per cent), pip the horn as soon as the traffic lights change to green (36 per cent), give the middle finger (38 per cent), and not pull over for emergency vehicles (31 per cent).

According to the data, when it comes to the nation’s biggest driving pet peeves – braking suddenly to scare the person behind you (51 per cent), tailgating (50 per cent), not pulling over for emergency vehicles (44 per cent) and overtaking then going slowly (41 per cent) top the list.

Four in ten (40 per cent) hate to see people throw rubbish out of their window, while 39 per cent despise those who give the middle finger, according to the poll of 2,000 people by car and van insurance firm GoShorty.

Middle-lane hogging (38 per cent), parking in a disabled bay when you’re not disabled (37 per cent), driving to the front of a merge lane and then pushing in (37 per cent) and not merging in until the last minute (35 per cent) are also considered unpleasant acts when behind the wheel.

Four in ten (40 per cent) say they regularly experience rude behaviour on the country’s roads – an average of six times a week, even though more than half (58 per cent) claim to be a polite driver, suggesting a disconnect between car drivers’ attitudes and behaviours.

Two thirds (61 per cent) admit they have acted aggressively behind the wheel themselves, an average of six times a week, and three quarters (76 per cent) regret it immediately.

More than half (58 per cent) agree that the brand of car doesn’t matter and that it’s the person behind the wheel that is at fault.

Three quarters (70 per cent) think that driving is more stressful now than five years ago, with one in three (30 per cent) wishing that driving was more fun.

Aggressive drivers (48 per cent), pushy drivers (32 per cent), too much traffic (30 per cent) and rude drivers (29 per cent) are the main reasons for stepping back from driving, along with too many road works and diversions (16 per cent) and finding driving incredibly stressful (15 per cent).

A fifth (18 per cent) believe that you have to put yourself first when driving and that you have to be aggressive to get anywhere (15 per cent).

Four in ten (45 per cent) avoid driving in cities if they can, with a further half (47 per cent) admitting that city driving is a different type of driving altogether.

When it comes to where the anti-social behaviour has come from, one in three (36 per cent) have been picked up from other drivers, while 21 per cent say it has come from a parent or family member.

Seven per cent picked it up from social media, with a further four per cent blaming their driving instructor.

Aside from rude drivers, potholes (23 per cent), traffic jams (20 per cent), people not using indicators (13 per cent) and slow drivers (11 per cent) are the most irritating parts of driving.

A quarter (22 per cent) admit that they are more likely to be rude when driving someone else’s car.

Andy Moody, Founder and Managing Director of GoShorty, said: ‘Sadly, our powers cannot make the UK’s rudest drivers more considerate on the road, but we can help save you money with more efficient insurance options.’

From the Great St Bernard Pass in Italy to Scotland’s North Coast 500, there’s nothing quite like hitting the open road for an epic road trip.

But have you ever wondered just how many roads there are across our entire planet?

At least 13 million miles (21 million kilometres) of roads cover the globe, ranging from major motorways to rural drives. 

To help visualise just how much land these roads cover, Adam Symington from PythonMaps created an incredible map for Visual Capitalist, showing the roads of the world, by continent. 

Amazingly, the map reveals that more than 14 per cent of the roads can be found in the US, while 1.24 per cent are in Britain. 

To create the map, Mr Symington used the Global Roads Inventory Project, which includes data from governments, research institutes, NGOs, and crowd-sourcing initiatives. 

Roads were put into one of four categories and colour-coded accordingly. 

Main Roads (multi-lane highways) are white on the map, while Secondary Roads (paved, high-traffic roads) are yellow. 

Meanwhile, tertiary roads (paved or unpaved residential roads) and local roads are labelled as red on the map. 

‘This classification allowed for examining relationships between road infrastructure, development, wealth, and population distribution,’ Visual Capitalist explained. 

The data reveals that, of the 13 million miles (21 million kilometres) of roads worldwide, 1.86 million miles (3 million kilometres) are in the US. 

This is nearly double that of China (one million miles/1.7 million kilometres), and three times that of India (600,000 miles/one million kilometres) – the two most populated countries in the world. 

At the other end of the scale, the small Pacific island country of Palau has the smallest road network, measuring just 11 miles (18 kilometres) long. 

‘However, many of countries have even smaller networks, with Norfolk Island being the smallest in the dataset at 10km [6 miles],’ Visual Capitalist added. 

However, when breaking down the road networks by type, China was found to top the list for main roads, followed by the US and Mexico. 

These differences are reflected in the map, with North America having a white-yellow hue thanks to its large number of highways, primary and secondary roads. 

Mexico, on the other hand, is predominantly red, as most of its roads are tertiary or local roads. 

‘Something similar occurs in Europe, where old Cold War divisions play out in white, yellow, and red,’ Visual Capitalist added. 

‘France, Germany, Italy, and the UK glow hot in a mix of white and yellow, while former Eastern Bloc countries simmer more in red.’

Over in Africa and Australia, vast swathes have no colour at all thanks to large road-free areas, such as deserts.