Drivers are being warned to expect potential disruption on the roads this bank holiday weekend, in the wake of eased lockdown restrictions.

The RAC says a survey of drivers shows many more are planning on taking to the roads in the coming days than did so at Easter, with 15 million journeys planned nationwide.

The RAC's Rod Dennis talks about potential disruption on the roads this coming weekend

The company's traffic spokesperson Rod Dennis said drivers should check their vehicles before making a journey to avoid contributing to any disruption.

"Every big bank holiday we ask drivers about what their plans are and this bank holiday does look to be pretty different to the last one just four weeks ago," he told kmfm.

"It's a significant step up in the number of drivers telling us they're planning leisure trips this weekend – around about 62% more than we saw over Easter."

"A lot of drivers are waiting to see what the weather does," he added. "It looks like certainly Monday is looking like a damp and miserable affair so that might affect the sorts of journeys people make but we are expecting to be busier on the roads than we were around Easter time and obviously lockdown restrictions have eased a bit more since then.

"A weekend like this, if the weather's good in normal times we expect to see people jumping in the car, visiting national parks, the coast, that sort of thing."

He said poorer weather could lead to people taking shorter journeys on routes into towns and cities rather than longer journeys across the country.

The key message for drivers was to "make sure you're not the one to contribute to that disruption if you can avoid it" said Rod, who suggested people should check tyres, oil and coolant levels and screenwash before embarking on longer journeys after months of travelling closer to home.

He added: "Checking those things before you set out could make the difference between a really plain sailing journey and one where you break down at the side of the road and therefore potentially lead to disruption for other drivers."

With travel patterns remaining volatile, traffic levels at particular times remain difficult to predict, but the number of drivers on the roads is increasing.

"We're not in normal times at the moment, traffic volumes are increasing but we're a long way away from where they'd normally be..."

Rod added: "There are more people on the roads, but it's a very short term picture so really your best advice is to tune into your local radio; tune into what kmfm are telling you about where the traffic problems are likely to be – and keep an eye on apps that you can use – mobile apps that can keep you abreast of what the latest situation with the traffic really is.

"It's that kind of minute-by-minute, hour-by-hour updates you're going to need if you're travelling because it's extremely difficult to predict exactly where the traffic is going to be heaviest and at what time.

"We're not in normal times at the moment, traffic volumes are increasing but we're a long way away from where they'd normally be, and the sort of travel patterns we're seeing are still quite abnormal, so getting that up-to-minute advice is very important this weekend."

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