town is gridlocked between 330 and 630 every weekday

[badtraffic]

The answer is to build more homes.

I could cry.

ArcheryAnnie precisely, which is why, to a certain extent, people have got the society they deserve. Far too many people will sit fuming in a traffic jam, blaming everyone else without acknowledging that they are part of the problem. Most people will have a little grumble about the state of the pavements, lack of spaces in schools and GPs, but do nothing. Just look at the pitiful turn-out in local and general elections. It's one thing venting on the internet, but most are just too lazy and apathetic do get off their arse and do anything.

This has never, ever worked, cocoanuttella.

Of course it has.... without it my journey from Bushey to Banbury later would have been through every town and village in between.... motorways may be conjested but if they hadn't been built it would have been far, far more so... we truly would
Be gridlocked and our economy set back years. I'm not arguing for roads to be built without any consideration, but if we have an expanding population, and need more housing, more and better roads are part of the answer... unless you genuinely think we'd be better off with dirt tracks everywhere, which would have been the case if we'd all had this wierd view that "road building is of the devil" for the past 300 years.

I've often said it would be like having an arm cut off. Life would change considerably - and not for the better.

I know I should be campaigning, but like the average Joe I'm too apathetic and lazy.
I'm not trying to be contentious - just speaking from the view point of the general population.
I might be more proactive if it affected me more but whilst rush hour is annoying I'm not usually traveling at that time and it doesn't impact on me too much.

Or you could live in an island city where there is no room at all to expand outwards yet houses keep being built. If they could build into the sea I think they would.

@SusannahL are you my dad? Makes a change to see him posting anti immigration bullshit on mumsnet as opposed to Facebook, well done on branching out.

but if we have an expanding population, and need more housing, more and better roads are part of the answer

Infrastructure is the answer. You said it yourself, cocoanuttella, when new motorways are built, all they do is get congested.

Rather than continue with the madness that requires people to spend a big chunk of every day in a car, plan towns and cities and suburbs so that schools, shops, doctors, jobs, can all be got to by public transport or by walking or biking.

There is going to come a point, very, very soon, where if we are not to see climate change make all our lives very, very, very difficult, we are going to have to drastically change a lot of things, including our car-bound lifestyles. It's better to plan for that now, while we can.

Ask yourself what would you do if you were banned from driving today for a year or two? Do you think you’d cope? Or would you have to change jobs etc

Pointless rhetoric as I would never be banned.

That said I am currently unable to drive due to an accident. My only option is for other people to drive for me.

I work from home, but meetings are unavoidable

Pointless rhetoric as I would never be banned.

Don’t think ur invincible I’m banned from driving as I am epileptic. And you don’t have to be epileptic to have a seizure. If you have a seizure you are not allowed to drive for a year from then

I was just asking this “theory” because this is my life! Can’t get a job where you need a drivers license and have to have one nearby, haven’t even got the choice of using a car to ferry the kids around. Yet somehow I manage. I have a job and the kids get to swimming lessons etc

Don’t think ur invincible I’m banned from driving as I am epileptic

Apologies I took it to mean banned due to driving infraction.

And again though, you live in London where you have a decent public transport system. Without a car long term I will be paying for a taxi. So. A car.

We live rurally (very!) and I need my car for work (community nurse) but we haven't got the congestion problems that some posters here have! Some of these would drive me bonkers and is why I couldn't live in a town/city, have always lived in the country/villages. Lived in a city about 10 years ago when I was younger and it used to take 1 hour to get from one side to the other where I lived and I believe it is worse now, but I really disliked it anyway and I had to move back to country as I found everyone living on top of each other like that was affecting me strangely enough.

I am a tad bit nimby and it does make me feel bad but I really really hope they don't want to start building 100s of houses here, I chose to live in a village not a town and quite like being able to see some greenery and not just looking out at loads of concrete and not much else

The problem is that infrastructure never keeps pace with housing/immigration. The population of this country has risen hugely in the past 20 years, but many towns in the UK are the same size. Their roads aren't bigger, their car parks aren't more spacious, their town centres are the same size - and much of that is dictated by geography and architecture. My city is small and ancient. It's road system is old. It has two rail lines, a river and a huge park in the centre. It is built on a series of hills. It is absolutely grid-locked at times. The only month of the year when it's pleasant and reasonable to drive here is August when everyone buggers off on holiday! I'm very grateful that I can walk my DC to school, or I'd sit in traffic for ages every day - like everyone else. The answer is NOT building more houses!

JacquesHammer

I don’t live in London I live in south yorkshire

There is no infrastructure planning. They just tack something onto what is already there when something else gets built. Unless they can 'make do' with nothing.

A lot of major road plans were shelved over 20 years ago during cuts, and they only make major changes when the going gets tough.

Vote Labour at the next election if you want to see improvement. Taking back control of our public transport and investment in our communities won't happen under the Tories. Nothing will change.

Nothing changed for the better last time Labour were in power.

My town seems to be funding new roads by letting developers build on green belt.
It really really doesn't sit well with me.

JacquesHammer- of course I appreciate that not everywhere has good transport, my post implied that.

IfNot- totally agree.

If we make all our choices- where we work, where our children go to school, where we go after school, where we go for leisure- assuming we'll drive, then of course we'll think we 'can't live without a car'. If we make those choices around walking/public transport then we don't need cars. Obviously sometimes there is no choice (places with hardly any public transport /people with disabilities) but I suspect there are many out there who refuse to think 'outside the car'.

Totally agree susan

Labour were the idiots who opened our doors wide to mass immigration in 1997 and caused a lot of the overcrowding we're now experiencing.

Maireadplastic

Thank you someone who speaks how I feel and understands where I’m coming from. If you don’t have a car like me you still survive get jobs closer etc.

And don’t forget people mankind has survived for a very long time without cars. Just a shame mankind is not gunna last as long if we carry on using them like we do

If we make all our choices- where we work, where our children go to school

Where you children go to school isn't a choice. It is a request. And one that isn't always facilitated.

I chose to work from home and apply for the three nearest schools. Didn't get any of them. Appeal failed.

JacquesHammer

In your case then driving to school justified. But I think what people are trying to get through is that some people’s are not.

Eg the mums who live 10 min walk from school but choose to drive because they’re still in their pjs. Then people like you who really need to drive there have nowhere to park.

This is just modern life... more people need more homes and the existing infrastructure can't cope. Unless you start demolishing houses to build better roads (defeats the object) or you ship people away from your town (moving problem elsewhere) then you really need to get used to this. The council can't magic up easy solutions to this.

Be careful who you vote for, in an age of austerity the public transport funding has been cut worsening the problem. When autonomous vehicles are fully operational then road capacity will end maximised..: for a while.

Climate change.