General Volume of Traffic
Discussion
Firstly, anyone who drives for a living has my upmost respect! The roads are getting absolutely ridiculous these days and this was highlighted to me earlier.
I had to nip into Rotherham earlier to pick up a package and the roads were absolute carnage! It felt like driving in Vietnam! Average speed was about 10mph. Pulling out of junctions / side roads was purely reliant on someone being kind enough to let me out. I witnessed 3 near misses in this 15 mile round trip and I'm just shocked there aren't more accidents on a daily basis.
I would imagine starting your driving career now would be a very daunting prospect if you live in an urban area. I mean Rotherham is only a town, I can't imagine what London is like these days - it's about 5 years since I've had the misfortune of driving around there. The condition of the roads was absolutely vile, huge potholes everywhere and areas of about 10m with tarmac completely missing. It felt like driving in a 3rd world country (the litter everywhere contributed heavily).
When will the government realise that people aren't using public transport and they actually need to invest in the roads. They simply aren't fit for purpose! I know this is nothing more than a rant but it genuinly shocked me.
I had to nip into Rotherham earlier to pick up a package and the roads were absolute carnage! It felt like driving in Vietnam! Average speed was about 10mph. Pulling out of junctions / side roads was purely reliant on someone being kind enough to let me out. I witnessed 3 near misses in this 15 mile round trip and I'm just shocked there aren't more accidents on a daily basis.
I would imagine starting your driving career now would be a very daunting prospect if you live in an urban area. I mean Rotherham is only a town, I can't imagine what London is like these days - it's about 5 years since I've had the misfortune of driving around there. The condition of the roads was absolutely vile, huge potholes everywhere and areas of about 10m with tarmac completely missing. It felt like driving in a 3rd world country (the litter everywhere contributed heavily).
When will the government realise that people aren't using public transport and they actually need to invest in the roads. They simply aren't fit for purpose! I know this is nothing more than a rant but it genuinly shocked me.
Obviously roads are overcrowded, but the problems are amplified by driver behaviour.
I learned to drive in West London at the turn of the century, and about two years after passing my test I had to ride (daytime) and drive (night-time) into central London e every day. What I noticed was that the further into London I went, the more accomodating other drivers were. There was a realisation that everyone has somewhere to be, no-one was getting anywhere quickly, and that there needs to be some give and take. The places I found worst for driving were:
1) suburban districts in Greater London (where it was busy, but wasn't quite busy enough that "London Style" driving had made it there)
2) areas with a large immigrant population (because they weren't following the same "driving language" as the rest of us, so scary moments were frequent).
Since then, I've noticed that large towns seem to be terrible because everyone is in a hurry, but there isn't enough give and take yet. So councils have to attempt to force give and take through traffic calming, traffic lights, mini roundabouts etc. and then d
heads decide they are more important so do things like jumping red lights and booting it at roundabouts with no intention of slowing.
I learned to drive in West London at the turn of the century, and about two years after passing my test I had to ride (daytime) and drive (night-time) into central London e every day. What I noticed was that the further into London I went, the more accomodating other drivers were. There was a realisation that everyone has somewhere to be, no-one was getting anywhere quickly, and that there needs to be some give and take. The places I found worst for driving were:
1) suburban districts in Greater London (where it was busy, but wasn't quite busy enough that "London Style" driving had made it there)
2) areas with a large immigrant population (because they weren't following the same "driving language" as the rest of us, so scary moments were frequent).
Since then, I've noticed that large towns seem to be terrible because everyone is in a hurry, but there isn't enough give and take yet. So councils have to attempt to force give and take through traffic calming, traffic lights, mini roundabouts etc. and then d
heads decide they are more important so do things like jumping red lights and booting it at roundabouts with no intention of slowing.We moved from Essex to Wiltshire five years ago. Essex has three times the population density of Wiltshire.
We had lived in the same village in Essex for over 30 years and were prepared to stay for our retirement.
Heavy amounts of house building and little in the way of infrastructure changed our minds. We used to drive out of our village onto the main road and hit a four mile traffic queue. It was six miles to the supermarket, but it took 20 minutes to get there. Now we are 10 miles from the supermarket, but it only takes a 15 minute scenic drive.
We go back to Essex about six times a year to see friends and relatives and each time I am reminded why we left.
No regrets.
We had lived in the same village in Essex for over 30 years and were prepared to stay for our retirement.
Heavy amounts of house building and little in the way of infrastructure changed our minds. We used to drive out of our village onto the main road and hit a four mile traffic queue. It was six miles to the supermarket, but it took 20 minutes to get there. Now we are 10 miles from the supermarket, but it only takes a 15 minute scenic drive.
We go back to Essex about six times a year to see friends and relatives and each time I am reminded why we left.
No regrets.
It's getting more bonkers, at least in London where I spend most of my time driving.
I feel it's linked to the change in culture where more people feel entitled to do whatever they like at any time, and essentially, who cares about anyone else, is their attitude.
I've just returned from Saudi Arabia where I was told that driving is insane, and not to rent a car.
I rented a car and found that people were a bit insane at times, but not as insane as London.
It's a downward spiral in London at least. I only see it becoming worse.
I feel it's linked to the change in culture where more people feel entitled to do whatever they like at any time, and essentially, who cares about anyone else, is their attitude.
I've just returned from Saudi Arabia where I was told that driving is insane, and not to rent a car.
I rented a car and found that people were a bit insane at times, but not as insane as London.
It's a downward spiral in London at least. I only see it becoming worse.
Agree with a lot of the comments here. The road network needs serious investment- both in capacity increases and surface quality. Housing/population is still growing at a rate of knots, but the infrastructure improvements aren't good enough/there at all.
At least in major cities there are reasonable alternatives to driving, but you're stuffed in many other areas. Sorting out overloaded junctions is a good place to start. Widening programs also. There are plenty of opportunities for new bypasses too. In many cases, widening a mile long stretch of road or building a few new miles of bypass would help a lot.
At least in major cities there are reasonable alternatives to driving, but you're stuffed in many other areas. Sorting out overloaded junctions is a good place to start. Widening programs also. There are plenty of opportunities for new bypasses too. In many cases, widening a mile long stretch of road or building a few new miles of bypass would help a lot.
The results of an overpopulated island, where most urban areas were designed and built before 20+ million extras arrived.
30 years ago for my typical daily journeys i'd be leaving the yard at 5am, these days i'm often out of the yard at 3.30am in order to arrive at the customer on time, generally plan to discharge during the morning peak period, it works most of the time, thankfully my truck driving days are drawing to a close.
30 years ago for my typical daily journeys i'd be leaving the yard at 5am, these days i'm often out of the yard at 3.30am in order to arrive at the customer on time, generally plan to discharge during the morning peak period, it works most of the time, thankfully my truck driving days are drawing to a close.
8IKERDAVE said:
Firstly, anyone who drives for a living has my upmost respect! The roads are getting absolutely ridiculous these days and this was highlighted to me earlier.
.
Where you are....up north of the Scottish central belt, I get frustrated at a 10 car queue to get to the main roundabout in town. ;-).
While numbers of vehicles are an issue, it is use that compounds it.
I also think we are seeing more and more folk use a car for short journeys in urban settings. I still walk and cycle a lot to places, but know I am in the minority. Imagine if most of the school runs were done on foot or bike, if folk walked to the shop for a loaf and milk, if we did not choose to live places with long commutes etc. Nearly 20% of journeys under 1mile are in a car, and the statistics do not give enough information of the next mile or two, which is ideal for a bike or a good leg stretch for most folk.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-...
Private vehicle ownership is unsustainable across the globe.
None of us are willing to make the changes needed because we've been spoiled for so long.
Mass transit infrastructure investment is needed across the board and ultimately, barriers to private vehicle ownership are required to encourage adoption once appropriate MTSs are in place.
The world needs less 'me', more 'us'.
You start.
None of us are willing to make the changes needed because we've been spoiled for so long.
Mass transit infrastructure investment is needed across the board and ultimately, barriers to private vehicle ownership are required to encourage adoption once appropriate MTSs are in place.
The world needs less 'me', more 'us'.
You start.
The odd thing is I was a proper NIMBY when I lived in Essex.
Now I'm in Wiltshire, I'm much more relaxed about it.
Clearly the pressure on infrastructure was impacting on my attitude.
(Plus Wiltshire Council seem to have a more joined up approach to house building as opposed to most councils in Essex which seemed to be anywhere)
Now I'm in Wiltshire, I'm much more relaxed about it.
Clearly the pressure on infrastructure was impacting on my attitude.
(Plus Wiltshire Council seem to have a more joined up approach to house building as opposed to most councils in Essex which seemed to be anywhere)
Earthdweller said:
When I started driving there were 54 million people in the U.K. and far less cars
Now there's nearly 70 million people and way more cars
That's your answer
I don't think reality is as portrayed. Fewer of my peers are having kids, those kids don't drive or don't want to drive I think actual drivers is way down on the numbers a generation ago. However the concentration of building in built up areas increased, including building houses without driveways or adequate parking, plus traffic management is causing congestion, with bus lanes, low traffic neighbourhoods, cycle lanes, one way systems, 20mph zones and what you have is more traffic. Let's not mention how many bridge closures and road closures there are on a daily basis now.Now there's nearly 70 million people and way more cars
That's your answer
TLDR; the number of cars hasn't increased, the concentration of people into smaller areas has, plus extremely poor road planning. It's by design.
The number of cars absolutely has increased.
However, a question that often occurs to me on, say, the M25 is "where are all this lot going?"
Working from home, zoom calls, much more stuff delivered to the home rather having to be shopped for should surely have lowered numbers actually out on the road during the day but it would appear not.
However, a question that often occurs to me on, say, the M25 is "where are all this lot going?"
Working from home, zoom calls, much more stuff delivered to the home rather having to be shopped for should surely have lowered numbers actually out on the road during the day but it would appear not.
Edited by swisstoni on Friday 5th December 16:06
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