Many of us have lost thousands of hours to Scotland's busiest motorway – spending more time than we care to mention sitting in traffic tailbacks.
Sometimes it seems that you can barely move a few hundred yards before being hit by some sort of disruption.
However this fascinating "dashcam" footage from the 1970s shows that it wasn't always that way.
An intriguing video released by West Lothian Heritage shows a motorist driving along an eerily quiet M8 in broad daylight – with no signs of any of the traffic chaos it's become famous for.
The driver then heads along a number of Livingston roads – showing just how different things looked back then, with countryside and woodland where there are now buildings.
It is believed that the footage was shot for inclusion in a promotional film at the time.
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West Lothian Heritage posted on Facebook: "This short nostalgic snippet comes from a reel of 16mm film that pieces together various scenes of Livingston's roads during the early 1970s.
"It seems very likely that these were rough footage for inclusion in one of the Development Corporation's promotional films. Shot from a moving car you're taken from the M8, along the spine road, to streets winding between the flat-roofed Jesperson blocks of Craigshill; the new town's earliest community."
They add: "The roads are familiar but the landscape seems strange, with fields and open views in places that are now built-up or wooded.
"From traffic-free M8 you were once able to travel at motorway speed (or above) along the spine road with little fear of speed cameras. On reaching Lizzie Bryce's roundabout you had little option but to turn round and race up the other side of the dual carriageway."
The full video can be viewed above.
West Lothian Heritage compile and share old photos and memories from the area's past – drawing on collections from the Almond Valley Heritage Trust.
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