M1 Traffic on Saturdays

On a Saturday the M1 carries a different crowd: shoppers bound for Brent Cross, Fosse Park and Meadowhall, football fans, people visiting family, and holiday traffic.

See how the latest Saturday moved through the day in both directions. A Saturday without the commuting peaks can make a single incident stand out clearly on the chart.

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M1 on Saturdays: Saturday 17 October 2026

How traffic on the M1 has moved hour by hour, compared with the same day a week earlier (Saturday 10 October 2026) and with National Highways’ usual speed for each hour. Updated every five minutes.

Speeds are colour-coded the same way as our live M1 speed flow map: 50 mph and over, 30 mph to 49 mph, under 30 mph. The colour shows the speed actually achieved; the usual speed is shown in bold beside it.

00:00 (midnight)

Northbound · slowest hour against usual

average 61 mph across the road, against a usual 58 mph; the same hour last week 63 mph.

03:00 (3am)

Southbound · slowest hour against usual

average 59 mph across the road, against a usual 56 mph; the same hour last week 61 mph.

10:00 (10am)

Northbound · slowest stretch

J12–J13 24 mph, against a usual 47 mph.

12:00 (midday)

Southbound · slowest stretch

J11A–J12 11 mph, against a usual 46 mph.

Across the day

Northbound · stop-start

J29–J29A traffic below 15 mph somewhere on this stretch for about 135 minutes (2.25 hours), between 00:00 (midnight) and 04:00 (4am).

Northbound · against last week

about the same as last Saturday: average 63 mph over 14 hours, against 63 mph in the same hours.

Southbound · stop-start

J36–J37 traffic below 15 mph somewhere on this stretch for about 180 minutes (3 hours), between 00:00 (midnight) and 05:00 (5am).

Southbound · against last week

about the same as last Saturday: average 63 mph over 13 hours, against 63 mph in the same hours.

Northbound: average speed by hour

Southbound: average speed by hour

Saturday 17 October 2026Saturday 10 October 2026usual speed (National Highways)

How we worked this out. We regularly take National Highways’ live speed data for each stretch of the M1 and keep the average for each hour. These figures cover 24 hours of Saturday 17 October 2026 and 14 of Saturday 10 October 2026 (hours with no readings are left out). Hours are UK time. A speed shown for the whole road is the average across its stretches, so a short queue may not move it much: the cards point to the slowest stretches.

© 2026 Corporate Ace Limited. The analysis, wording, charts and conclusions on this page are our own, produced from the live information we collect, including National Highways’ data. You may not copy, republish or reproduce them on any website, app, broadcast or publication without our prior written permission, which must set out how and where they will be used. To ask, please contact us. Powered by National Highways’ Transport Data Feeds.

The M1 on Other Days

For the road right now, see the live M1 speed flow map and the latest M1 traffic news, or look up any junction on the M1 junctions page.