Castrol, one of the world’s leading engine oil manufacturers, has partnered with navigation systems provider TomTom to study the impact of “stop-start” driving patterns across the world. A report highlighting the impact of stop-start driving in 50 cities and regions around the world will be published by Castrol and TomTom in September.

According to Castrol, preliminary studies already show that drivers can experience as many as 18,000 stop-starts every year. Through this study, Castrol and TomTom hope to uncover the number of stop-starts in different cities around the world, and TomTom will use its precise travel and traffic information to analyze driving behaviors across the entire road network, all over the world.

Gareth Bracchi, senior development technologist at Castrol, commented, “Stop-start traffic is a global issue that not only affects journey times, but all that idling in traffic and waiting at junctions causes microscopic wear in engines. By partnering with TomTom, we’ll be able to accurately measure the stop-start average per kilometer within defined city limits, discover what cities have the heaviest traffic, and show which city’s drivers are most at risk of damaging stop-start wear.”

Ralf-Peter Schäfer, head of traffic at TomTom added, “This partnership makes perfect sense, as both TomTom and Castrol aim to make the lives of our customers run as smoothly as possible, whether that’s on a daily commute, the school run or a weekend road trip. We are very excited to be working with Castrol and look forward to sharing the findings from this study.”

The study will uncover the traffic conditions in 50 key cities and regions around the globe, including North America (New York), Australia (Sydney), Asia (Beijing, Bangkok, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur), Russia (Moscow), Brazil (Rio de Janeiro), Europe (London, Istanbul) and Hong Kong.