Traffic Jams Here To Stay

We can all see it happening. The population of the United Kingdom as well as in the rest of the world is growing at break-neck speed. What does this mean for our roads? Forever growing traffic jams appear to be here to stay.

Every year we see in the news the need for more housing. Not just a few, but thousands more. New towns appear, towns become cities, cities become grotesquely over-crowded. Our countryside is getting smaller and our world is being ruined. The population grows every year and so this means every year a larger amount of cars join our roads. The recession hasn’t much dampened this down in my experience, as it seems to me we still have the same growth in the amount of people wanting to learn to drive.

In the United Kingdom, Leeds has been pin-pointed as an area of particular conce
with congestion increasing so much it is now considered more congested tha
London during the rush hour. In fact, congestion in the areas of Leeds and Bradford, and its surrounds is rising faster than in any other region in Europe. West Yorkshire is now considered to be more grid-locked tha
London. In the top 10 most congested places in Europe, of which Warsaw in Poland tops, Leeds and Bradford came 7th, with London just behind in 8th.

The figures were released by a top sat-nav brand after gathering data and monitoring millions worth of miles of real-life jou
eys. Travel times of people owning this particular sat-nav were collated during peak times and jou
eys at non-peak times across Europe. Citizens of Leeds and Bradford enjoy a 28 per cent increase in traffic from peak to non-peak times and this sees a 5 per cent increase on the same area from last year. In London drivers see an increase of 27 per cent.

Birmingham also make an appearance for the United Kingdom in the top 30, coming in at 19th, with a rush hour increase of 21 per cent.

Warsaw in Poland sees a rush hour increase of a whopping 42 per cent, and Marseille in France right behind at 41 per cent.

Of course when travelling in these areas it will only be certain roads that see such an increase of traffic at rush hour. Some roads will be incredibility congested yet some will be relatively clear, depending how well drivers know the area and the possible cut throughs.

How can these rises be combated? The truth is unless population growth is controlled somehow or attitudes change so the majority of couples only have 1 child, things can only get worse. One day, a long time from when all of us have gone, things will come to a head. Our countryside will be gone, many native animals will be gone, and there will be no room left, let alone food, for the human race.

Looking not so close into the future though it’s been cited improvements to public transport can help, and it certainly can but I believe the number of trains and buses, trams and tubes will need to be doubled, at a cost of billions if not trillions.