When you think of Bank Holiday traffic, you think of miles and miles a gridlocked jams, three lanes inching forward interminably as your free time slips away from you and the kids in the back seat driving you crazy. Then, inevitably, there are accidents or cars overheat, causing the delays to extend on and on and on and on. But it really doesn’t have to be that way. Well, maybe a bit. But there are things you can do to makes it more bearable. Here is a quick guide to avoiding the worst of the bank holiday traffic.

* Choose the best roads and the best times during bank holiday.

Either choose the quietest roads at the busiest times or the busiest roads at the quietest times. Like most of the best advice, it’s fairly obvious, but it’s amazing how many people forget to plan ahead in this respect. Not only will this kind of preparation make your journey less stressful, it will also save you time (obviously) and money that you’d otherwise spend on fuel.

The busiest roads during bank holiday are those that head toward the beaches and other popular tourist destinations UK – the Lake District, Penzance, Birmingham City Centre, all of the airports, the Channel Tunnel and so on. They’re all going to be packed. As are these:

* the west-bound M4, M5 and A303

* all major routes from the north of England to North Wales

* the north-west-bound M56 and A55

* around the Lake District the M6 and the A590

* the M55 to Blackpool

* the A47 from Birmingham and the Midlands to Norfolk

* the Brighton-bound M23

* heading to Dover, the Channel Tunnel and the Eurostar, the A2, M2 and M20

* all roads round all major airports

So yes, if you can avoid all those, you should be fine.

* Cover yourself.

Make sure you have adequate breakdown cover as if you do overheat in a jam, you’ll need someone to get out to you as soon as possible and get you back on the road to enjoy your holiday. Also, if – God forbid – but if you happen to be involved in an incident of some kind, you should seek out the best accident claim company or injury claim company there is.

* Avoid the fixers.

The British love to fix up their houses on bank holidays, so making an effort to avoid parts of town near an IKEA or Homebase would make a lot of sense. Similarly, all shops. All over the Bank Holiday weekend, particularly around Saturday lunchtime, roads around shopping centres and hypermarkets are notorious traffic hot-spots. And what is a hot spot? Not a good spot, that’s right. Avoid.

* The Bank Holiday Traffic Top Tips Checklist…

* Check you have enough fuel

* Check wiper blades

* Check windscreen washer fluid level

* Check oil coolant

* Check tyres for pressure and tread depth

* Check spare tyre as well – DO IT NOW

* Check caravan and trailer tyres if applicable

* Check all of your car’s lights, inside and out, as well as the lights of anything you’re towing, e.g. a caravan, a yacht

* Check the cooling system, or get someone to do it for you

* Check you haven’t overloaded

* Check you have the name and details of an excellent accident claims company in Birmingham

* Check that you’ve allowed more time than you think you could ever need

And you’re good to go.

Bon voyage.