To think our roads are no longer fit for purpose because they are too busy?

[Itisnoteasybeingdifferent]

Yestday we took a trip from Essex to Hampshire to collect some goods we have ordered. According to the route planners it should have been three hours each way.

Leaving before six the traffic was slow all the way. There was an accident on the M1 causing huge tailbacks onto the M25. Thousands of people were late for work causing millions of pounds of lost work. Goods will have been delivered late causing expenses. There was a monbile crane on it's way to a building site. That job would be halted and people unable to work agqin huge costs for someone. Later the advice signs were informing of 90 minute delays between J7&J6. That was increasing to 120 minutes and more. The journey took over four hours each way. I averaged 40 mph. The journey was motorway and dual carraige way for almost all the way. I should have averaged over just under 60.

That is a 30% reduction in efficiency and output for anyone who was stuck in the traffic. This is a huge economic drain and loss of ability to work. I was pretty tired at the end of the day.

We need a huge invetment in transport.

Could you have got the train or bus instead, therefore less cars on the road?

I think it depends where you are in the country. It seems much less congested up north than it ever was when I lived down south.

We have a very high population density and a high percentage of car users- of course there will be problems on the roads.

I dont have a car or access to one- but public transport needs to be cheaper and more regular before people use public transport.

What's your solution?

Yep I largely agree. Lack of investment and privatisation of the railways is mostly responsible I think.

Are roads are no longer fit for purpose where I live because of the thousands of chuffing potholes

The better the roads, the more people use them, the more congestion and the less economically viable the alternatives. 70 years ago the crane would have been transported by rail (just taken by lorry to/from the stations), it's just cheaper to take by road, even if you do have to sit in traffic jams.

Of course, 70 years ago most people sat in those jams wouldn't be able to own a car, would have gone by rail or more likely not travelled those journeys.

We live in north Kent, one of the dad's of DC1's friends has just taken a 6 month contract near Brighton, there has been no suggestion of moving to the Brighton area, he'll drive daily as even allowing for traffic, 4 times out of 5 it'll be quicker than the train & bus combo. A generation back, he'd have at least rented somewhere nearby during the week, now driving 1 or 2 hours each way doesn't seem impossible.

we should ban accidents so that people avoid delays

Depends where you mean by 'north' hermione

Maybe in Scotland but in the north west it's awful.

The problem is too many people use the car for very short journeys that could be done on foot/by bike/public transport.

Everyone makes excuses for why they need the car ("it takes too long on the bus (get up earlier), I'm tired at the end of the day" (so?), "the paths aren't lit" (get a torch) but if people lost the excuses and stopped driving when they didn't need to things would be so much better.

I lived in bristol for a while and the congestion was HORRIFIC. But where I lived there were no buses on a Sunday!

heron98, maybe we need to revitalise those WWII posters from 'Is your journey really necessary?' to 'Is your car really necessary for this journey?'

You're not stuck in traffic, you are traffic. There are too many humans on the planet, and over 200,000 new ones being bred every day.

Technology will save us - self driving cars (and importantly trucks) which are safer and use the road more efficiently. Tracking apps that know where the traffic is and plan routes accordingly.

What Thigh said
What is your suggested solution?

It's not great. The only answer is to allow longer for journeys.

Really Shakespeare?

I'm as North-West as you can get without being in Scotland and it's a lot better than it was when I was in East Anglia.

It's crowded in tourist season but other times of the year most of the roads are practically deserted!

I totally agree op. We used to live in Leeds and it used to take me at least an hour to do 6 miles. We live rurally now and the same distance takes 10/ 15 mins, although some of it is because the roads have a 60mph limit instead of 30. (You're a fool if you do more than 40 on most of them though.) Ironically I am building up to cycle to work everyday because I feel more confident with the lack of traffic. Public transport is a joke though.

I remember going to Dover from Leeds once to catch the ferry. I ferry was at 1am so we left at 18:30 thinking we'd probably be able to get an earlier ferry. We only just made it though because of congestion and road closures.

Also, my dad always says you can tell when you're in Leeds because the pot holes are ridiculous. I think it's much the same in most towns and cities though.

I Say,

Great idea that. Persuade prople they don't need to travel. Then petrol stations will sell less. People won't visit each other and they eill spend less. Feweycars will be needed so all those nasty car workers van get the sack. Of course all the other services that are created by cars users and car ownership will not be needed and pretty soonthe roads will be empty and millions of people will be unemployed.

That's the Lakes? If you go further down to Warrington, Merseyside and so on it's pretty bad :)

Since you're adding to the congestion by driving I assume what you really want is for every other car to disappear which is obviously not going to happen. So you are part of the problem.

My response seems to be my theme for the day.

Britain is overpopulated. Probably to the tune of 30ish million. Doesn't matter how good the roads or public transport is, that volume of traffic is going to be troublesome.

Public transport and the roads need to be improved drastically. If you could persuade 8 million people to use public transport each day you would reduce road traffic to 1997 levels. Hardly a great win

Agree. The roads are an absolute nightmare. I'm convinced we're going to experience complete gridlock sooner or later. There are far too many cars. However until public transport becomes cheaper, more accessible and reliable, nothing's going to change.

Here's a simple solution for you OP. Start a campaign to increase road tax to £10,000 per year. Only the very rich will be able to own a car. Roads will be lovely and clear. Not a person would disagree. Job done.

Mysterycat,
Have you thiught that one through? Just what would happen if you priced cars out of the reqch of all but the very richest? Lets start with all the people who would loose their jobs at all the car manufacturing factories, Nissan, Jaguar, BMW, Ford.. Then all those people who support those factories woild be unemployed as well. Then no one would need insurance so all those office workers could go unemployed as well. Though the good side would be the end of those bloody stupid insurance ads on TV... What's not to like?

Then we would cover the countryside in brand new railroads. And of course every town would have to have a goods station as well as a passenger station.. So millions of acres of countryside covered in new industrial development. What's not to like?