M1 Traffic on Sundays

Sunday is the day of the return journey on the M1, as weekend visitors, students and holidaymakers make their way back south to London or north to Yorkshire.

This page shows the most recent Sunday hour by hour. Compare the afternoon and evening with the Sunday before to see whether the return rush was heavier this week.

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M1 on Sundays: Sunday 18 October 2026

How traffic on the M1 has moved hour by hour, compared with the same day a week earlier (Sunday 11 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.

06:00 (6am)

Southbound · slowest hour against usual

average 64 mph across the road, against a usual 58 mph; the same hour last week 61 mph.

15:00 (3pm)

Southbound · slowest stretch

J9–J10 21 mph, against a usual 63 mph.

20:00 (8pm)

Northbound · slowest stretch

J9–J10 20 mph, against a usual 61 mph.

23:00 (11pm)

Northbound · slowest hour against usual

average 64 mph across the road, against a usual 60 mph; the same hour last week 70 mph.

Across the day

Northbound · stop-start

J12–J13 traffic below 15 mph somewhere on this stretch for about 240 minutes (4 hours), between 00:00 (midnight) and 00:00 (midnight).

Northbound · against last week

about the same as last Sunday: average 65 mph over 13 hours, against 66 mph in the same hours.

Southbound · against last week

quicker than last Sunday: average 65 mph over 12 hours, against 63 mph in the same hours.

Northbound: average speed by hour

Southbound: average speed by hour

Sunday 18 October 2026Sunday 11 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 Sunday 18 October 2026 and 13 of Sunday 11 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.