Totally agree with the above about the cost in lives and to that add the lives that are lost as drivers desperately try to make up for lost time by driving too fast/too tired/in bad mood etc. I find it amazing that a gov. who profess to embrace technology and want everybody to have fast access to the internet refuse to do anything to ensure that people can have fast access by road. They seem unable to grasp that road transport IS modern technology: unable to grasp that a truck/rep/businessman etc is NOT doing it's/his job while stuck in traffic and it must cost millions of man-hours per day: unable to grasp that a vehicle that is in a jam/at ill-timed traffic lights is polluting unnecessarily. Do these politicians (I nearly wrote b*stards) ever try to use our motorways to try to get to a destination on time? I bet not one has tried to drive any m-way between 4pm and 7pm on a Friday night and taken 5-6 hours to do 200 miles. Do they ever acknowledge the problems that people face every day on our outdated road system? Do they hell, do they care? do they hell.
PhilW
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But what is the solution, having escaped from the motorway jam to get home nobody wants the relief road in their back yard. We have to face up to the fact that a densely populated country like the southern UK simply cannot provide enough road space to meet demand. So is there an alternative to choking off demand by pricing or letting them simmer in the jams?
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You have to reduce unnecessary journeys in some way. More broadband availability for people so they can work from home on some days of the week. Maybe try and encourage companies to have reps which have smaller areas to work in so they're not hurtling all over the country. Encourage companies to have flexible working hours so their staff don't all arrive together. Unfortunately even with flexible hours it is amazing how 90% of staff will still turn up just before 9am. Get freight off the roads and onto rail as I think rail passenger transport is not efficient as buses for short journeys. Reduce parents driving their children to and from school when they live within a certain distance of the school by having free local bus services or even the organised walking crocodiles. Decent buses should be available for commuters not those stinking old things with dirty seats. Maybe a pre-booked regular bus service might be better as you know it would run closer to schedule as it would be picking up the same people day in and day out.
teabelly
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SB
Right, there is no instant solution, but what can be done is to avoid making the situation deliberately worse.
Design housing developments so that the residential parts are off the access roads: we have an excellent example locally.
Phase traffic light to keep traffic moving rather than stopping it at every one.
Put bus laybys in rather than building out into the road.
Put drop-off/pickup bays outside stations.
Bypass villages.
Only have bus lanes operational when buses are actually using them.
Charge utility companies for the roadspace they put out of use with holes and piles of equipment.
Undertake roadworks in evenings and weekends.
Put sensors on traffic lights and crossings so that red lights only show when needed.
Install left filters on flashing amber.
Remove tolls on bridges and tunnels.
Go on: there's dozens more.
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But tony b-liar is going to make the streets of Iraq safe, and that's going to be cheaper than fixing the UK traffic problem.
Why can't 40 tonners travel at night?
Why do most people work 9-5 increasing congestion?
Why don't the guv tax big cars off the road so there is more room for little ones?
Why don't the cops confiscate the keys of every car with a minor infringement?
Why don't they take out the million cars without tax?
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Why don't the cops confiscate the keys of every car with a minor infringement? Why don't they take out the million cars without tax?
Because it would mean more work to be done and less tea and biscuits while a (s)camera does the work for them.
Ben
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