Relieving Traffic Problems
There are simple rules that enable the smooth and efficient running of any machine. However, as local authorities install retrogressive traffic schemes and cram more and more people into the area, building houses on the last remaining green spaces and even our playing fields, it is plain to see that they either don't understand what they are doing or they simply don't care! Either way it is not good for those of us that have to contend with the outcome!
As the number of vehicles on the road is growing all the time, it is absolutely vital that we can all go about our business as expediently as possible. Time is money! Not just for big business, but for all of us! We need to be able to get from A to B, and back again, without wasting it unnecessarily. However, our quest to do this has been made more and more difficult in recent years by the actions and policies of our local authorities, who do not seem to understand or appreciate the ramifications of the things they do.
What Can We Do? There are three obvious things that we can do in order to keep congestion down and preserve the ability of people to go about their business efficiently.
-
Reduce The Need To Travel: We should be moving towards providing more of what people need locally. Shops, facilities, school places, etc, and with today's internet and communications facilities, working from home where possible.
-
Avoid Over Populating Any Given Area: If we are to try and avoid problems, we must not cram too many people into any one area. That is we should spread people out a bit. This is far more healthy for people and society puts less much strain on roads and facilities.
-
Use Efficient Traffic Schemes: We should be using the most efficient traffic schemes on offer, and yet recent trends have seen a decline in traffic scheme efficiency. We must get traffic to where it needs to be as quickly and efficiently as possible. Meaning that traffic is on and off of the road as quickly as possible, i.e. improve traffic processing efficiency.
School Placement: Twenty percent of traffic on the roads relates to parents trying to get their children to and from schools that are a considerable distance from where they live. Mismanagement of schools, capacity and placement, means there is a shortage of local school places for the local children. Even in built up areas, such as S.E. London and N.W. Kent, where there are many local schools to choose from, too many children are still told they cannot get a local place and instead will have to travel many miles each way to an alternative distant school. As well as being undesirable for the child and parents concerned, this kind of inadequate management forces additional, otherwise unnecessary, strain on road infrastructure and capacity, adding to congestion problems.
Centralization Of Facilities: Many local facilities have been centralized, a considerable distance away from where they used to be, or simply run down to the point where a local facility no longer exists. If people can no longer access such facilities locally, they have to travel further on the roads, that they would otherwise have to, adding to traffic volumes and the resulting congestion.
Inefficient Traffic Schemes: Many good working traffic schemes have been ripped out and replaced, at the taxpayer's expense, with schemes that are less efficient and that have a higher congestion factor. Inefficient traffic schemes that prevent people turning where they need to, or taking the most direct route, have also led to motorists being forced considerably out of their way, meaning they are on the roads for longer, adding to congestion and getting in the way of other people trying to go about their business. Bus lanes that rob the motorist of vital road resource and give priority to bus users, while the remaining ninety percent of traffic sits in a jam in what's left of the road also compound congestion problems and make matters worse. Pelican crossings replacing Zebra crossings, mean that often pedestrians stand around in the rain waiting for the lights to change, while traffic keeps moving, and often traffic is forced to stop and wait when pedestrians have already crossed and are long gone. Nonsensical and highly inefficient!