How long a drive is that?
Road distances beat straight lines by 20–30% in most countries. These are the driving numbers, not the crow-flies ones.
1.54 × London to Edinburgh
1,000 km is further than 3 of the 7 references on this page.
Reference figures are measurements and are rounded; the unit conversion behind them is exact.
| Reference | Size | Yours ÷ theirs | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| average daily commute | 30 km | 33.3× | 30 km, round trip, UK and US average |
| Los Angeles to San Francisco | 615 km | 1.63× | |
| London to Edinburgh | 650 km | 1.54× | |
| Route 66 | 3,940 km | 0.254× | |
| a year of average driving | 12,000 km | 1/12 | |
| Pan-American Highway | 30,000 km | 1/30 | Prudhoe Bay to Ushuaia |
| lap of the equator | 40,075 km | 1/40.1 |
Worth knowing
- The average car in the UK covers 11 500 km a year and in the US about 21 700 — nearly double.
- The Pan-American Highway is the longest drivable road at about 30 000 km, but for the 106 km Darién Gap, which has no road at all.
Frequently asked
How long is Route 66?
The original alignment ran 3 940 km from Chicago to Santa Monica. It was decommissioned as a US highway in 1985 and now exists as a signed historic route.
How far does the average person drive in a lifetime?
At 15 000 km a year for 55 years, about 825 000 km — roughly 20 laps of the Earth, or twice the distance to the Moon.