Traffic jams are so predictable that radio presenters only ever give out details of tailbacks which are longer than a few kilometres, or which are unusual in some way.

This morning, for example, there was chaos on the A9 because the heavy rain washed away the temporary road markings. And doubtless tomorrow there will be more warnings of heavy rush hour traffic as school holidays start for the central region and tens of thousands of families pile into their cars and head for the sun.
For ordinary commuters, the daily jam is a fact of life. Ministers are not unaware of this fact and are doing their best to come up with ideas to lessen the pain.
Good old junior transport minister Tineke Huizinga, for example, thinks she can get commuters out of their cars by providing them with ‘fast and comfortable’ cycle lanes.
So next week work will begin on improving cycle lanes on several main commuter routes, such as between The Hague and Zoetermeer and Rotterdam and Delft.
Cycling to work may be an option on a sunny summer’s day. But it is a brave soul indeed who will wear smelly plastic rain gear over their suit, leap onto a bike and head into the wind and the rain, leaving the car in the garage.
With summer weather like this year, it is not only temporary road markings which will be washed away.