To be fed up of being trapped between 8-9 and 3-6?

[islandsandshores]

Roughly speaking! The traffic in my town is gridlocked at peak times and 10 minute journeys can take anything up to 2 hours.

Yet new houses are constantly being built

How do other towns cope with this? It's actually making me miserable.

Same here in our market town. The roads were not built to support so many cars, yet more and more houses are being built. I have no problem with houses, just wish they'd sort the roads out too.

We had planning in place for a bypass to help alleviate some of the traffic, but that land now has planning for another 2500 houses. There is no where else for the bypass to be built.

They've just changed the one way system where I live, it is actually quicker to walk DD to school (2 miles) than it would be to drive and do you know what I've literally just got in the post? An invitation to a meeting because they are proposing to build 55 new flats behind my block.

And yes to it mostly being people that could walk to school, DD's school did a survey as part of a maths project, DD is the only child in her year that isn't driven to school, we are also the furthest away.

"Yet new houses are constantly being built."

People needing somewhere to live, how very dare they.

I agree with others re flexible working - most office jobs don't need to be done 9-5, you just need to make sure office hours are covered. More homeworking and better broadband would help, too.

And cycling is really good if you have safe off-road cycle paths. But it would also help if cycle paths were kept for bikes. It is not useful when people park over them (or indeed pavements).

And kids need to walk to school. It is completely ludicrous how many people drive their kids to school when they live no more than 15 mins walk away. Even if you need to get to work you can park a little further away, walk your kids into school and back to your car. There is no excuse for the gridlock around schools. What really amazes me is the number of secondary aged kids who get taken to school. Sometimes you need a lift if you are carrying musical instruments or something else heavy, but otherwise they can walk.

a section of motorway that's usually part closed because of accidents

and if people would drive more carefully there would be fewer accidents and less congestion...

@Mulledwine1 I agree with others re flexible working - most office jobs don't need to be done 9-5, you just need to make sure office hours are covered. More homeworking and better broadband would help, too.

I agree too. My non-peak time easy, free flowing commute (when I am not WFH) is about 45minutes each way, vs a good 1.5hrs + accidents and stress in rush hour.

I also strongly believe there is a not insignificant bunch of people who COULD work more flexibly but simply don't because it hasn't occurred to them.

I have seen this in action at a couple of my previous workplaces - people blindly doing the 9-5 which doesn't suit them, their lives or the local traffic issues at all, but which could be easily solved by (say) 8-4.

That said, I did have on colleague who said they "couldn't" get up earlier and so seemed happy to spend an hour in peak traffic doing what was a 15 minute journey outside that (he didn't seem to consider 10-6 as an option, which was also available!). Sometimes you can lead a horse to water...

But it is pointless building housing that will be impossible to live in because you can't get out to work anywhere because of the traffic! And where traffic problems already exist, transport strategies really should be put in place before more housing is built, rather than create even more problems and then say oh we can't do anything to fix them because there's no land left.

I am going to do the nursery collection by train later for this reason, in theory it's a 7 minute drive, roads are gridlocked, plus there is a development of apartments that are causing roadworks. Like we need those anyhow!

Op cant complain that much when she is part of the problem!!

Wow, so many posters contributing to the problem themselves! If stuff is minutes away, the suggestions around walking, cycling or scooting are spot on.

Other countries don't have this epidemic of driving somewhere 10 minutes away, and yet people in this country constantly complain about the traffic on such journeys. My MIL does this and it drives me bonkers. She'll sit in traffic to get to the shops which are literally a 15 minute flat walk away, with lovely wide pavements and pedestrian crossings, buy a loaf of bread or milk, then drive back, tutting all the way!

Madness!

Wow, so many posters contributing to the problem themselves! If stuff is minutes away, the suggestions around walking, cycling or scooting are spot on.

Other countries don't have this epidemic of driving somewhere 10 minutes away, and yet people in this country constantly complain about the traffic on such journeys. My MIL does this and it drives me bonkers. She'll sit in traffic to get to the shops which are literally a 15 minute flat walk away, with lovely wide pavements and pedestrian crossings, buy a loaf of bread or milk, then drive back, tutting all the way!

Madness!

I have walked,cycled and used the bus to commute for well over a decade now. I am amazed by how many of my colleagues refuse to even consider doing anything other than drive, yet live closer to work than I do.

They think I am bonkers, that I can't drive, or I must be super fit, or so skint I can't afford a car. I think they are daft for sitting in a jam for hours, spending a fortune on petrol to drive at walking pace, fretting about parking spaces, and then paying for gym membership to get fit when they could just walk or cycle

I had that situation in the last city I lived in. I had to travel a lot for work too, which made it even more difficult.

I got my bike kitted out with decent mudguards, panier rack, and nice completely waterproof panier bags…a set of waterproof overtrousers for inclement weather and learned to love cycling all year round.

There's nothing quite like the feeling of overtaking stationary traffic on your way home . You end up getting fit on the sly as well, which is handy. The pannier bags I've got are roll top ones (ortleib) so are great for fitting in tons of shopping too. They do special laptop ones as well.

This is one reason why I used to cycle to work. I mean I know it's not possible for everyone if it's too far, but it's great if it's a doable distance. For me, it was about 3.5 miles and took me maybe 27 minutes there and 23 minutes back (it was half flat and half uphill there, and half flat and half downhill back, so coming back took less time.)

It was brilliant, and although I was knackered for the first couple of weeks, it wasn't long before it became a breeze. I became fit too, and my usually aloof manager became very chummy, as she was a cycling fanatic.

It was a 10-15 minute drive, (depending on traffic,) but took 45 minutes by bus, because of all the stops. Plus I also had a 10 minute walk to the bus stop and had to be there a few minutes before it came, and it was a 10 minute walk to my works at the other end.

So two and a quarter hours of my day was spent getting to work and back, and it cost about a tenner a week too. (This was about 10 years back.) But cycling only took just over three quarters of an hour of my day. And it saved me £520 a year, and kept me fit.

So I would encourage anyone to cycle if they can, and if it's not too far, and if the route is safe; two thirds of my journey was on a cycle path through town, and only one third on the road. So it was mostly quite ok.

I do understand what people mean about being part of the problem, but really what can I do?

" but really what can I do?"

Cycle.
Scoot.
Walk.
Run.
Use public transport.
Skate.
Roller blade.
Car share.

Make a promise that you will only use your car for journeys that are over 15 / 20 minutes and stick to it.

How far do you drive in 10 minutes? Assuming its a 30 mph speed limit, that's 5 miles max at a constant speed (no stopping for lights or junctions). It's less than 30 minutes on a bike - and will decrease the more you cycle.

aurynme. It's a very busy road, over a major motorway junction. There have been several fatalities in the 6 or so years I've lived here. No pavement or cycle lane, though there is a campaign for one.
Not suitable for cycling if walking, much as I'd like to.

YANBU. It was like that where we used to live. All the small towns were beginning to merge into great sprawling masses of houses. So we moved to Cumbria . I do realise that not everyone can (or wants to) do that. At least we've removed our cars from contributing to a problem area though, I guess.

I hear you OP (although it's more of a problem for us at weekends when we want to leave the city, as DH and I both walk/take public transport to work). I only want to visit the countryside once a week but it takes hours just to get out of the city, even if there hasn't been an accident or roadworks. It's unfortunate but most of the country's infrastructure just wasn't designed for the sheer numbers of people who now need to use it.

Roll on electric driverless cars I guess.

islandsandshores - I have to take a heavy laptop & other items to work by bike too.

I have 2x Ortlieb panniers, which are totally waterproof (genuinely, even in the pouring rain I don't have to worry about my laptop), and you really don't notice the weight at all when it's in panniers. Each is 20 litre volume, so I only normally use 1, but if I'm going to the supermarket I use both and I can get a weekly shop for 2 in there with room to spare - they're surprisingly roomy.

New, Ortlieb panniers are a bit pricey, but I bought my pair in 2012 second hand for £50 and they're still going strong despite often daily usage so they do last

If you have a bigger family and need to transport more food, you could attach a bike trailer for trips to the supermarket and for transporting anything bulky.

My usual rule of thumb is that unsporty me, in city traffic, on a heavy bike, will take about 5-6 minutes per mile without breaking a sweat. I know that only sounds like I'm doing 12mph, but that is averaged out to include all the time spent stopped at traffic lights etc.!

Of course, getting a bike and starting to cycle isn't a binary thing - if it's tipping it down with rain that day, you can always drive!

You are not stuck in terrible traffic. You ARE traffic.

Short journeys should rarely, if ever, be driven. Walk, cycle, scoot and you'll start to be part of the problem, you'll be helping solve the problem

(I cycle with heavy bags, sometimes two laptops, pick up my child and her bags and still manage to get us all, and bags, home safely on our bikes. It is doable, you just have to mentally tell yourself that it is)

We have to wean ourselves of car addiction. We are too overcrowded, there will soon be nowhere to park anywhere on public roads. I would make motoring much more expensive and use the money to improve cycling lanes. Less traffic would also encourage more pedestrians. (I hear the excuse of parents driving their darlings to school, as walking is "too dangerous" because of traffic.

What does a 10 min journey mean? If it's only 2-3 miles walking might be better. If longer then why not set out earlier?