your views "How would you beat jams?"

[supraman2954]

OK PHers, this is your chance. I've already given my two pence worth.

www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1161661,00.html

It'll be interesting to see what the general public come up with.

skynews said:

HOW WOULD YOU BEAT JAMS? The Highways agency has been criticised for not doing enough to prevent Britain's roads grinding to a halt. A report by the National Audit Office says the agency has been reluctant to try new ideas to tackle traffic congestion on motorways and trunk roads. It suggests several measures which could be introduced in a bid to get traffic moving more quickly, including opening the hard shoulder of the motorway to traffic during peak periods, the introduction of dedicated lanes on motorways for car-shares and changing the width of motorway lanes to increase traffic capacity. What do you think of the state of Britain's roads, and how would you beat the jams? Are the National Audit Office ideas on the right road? Have the wheels come off the Highways Agency? We want to hear your views.

[Mad Dave]

I found the perfect solution to traffic jams:





>> Edited by Mad Dave on Friday 26th November 15:51

[Pigeon]

Improve public transport to provide a realistic alternative. Increases of capacity both for the trains themselves and the routes, abolition of station car park charges for rail users and lowering of fares to undercut petrol costs being three important aspects.

[turbobloke]

[redacted]

[paolow]

compulsory retesting would remove a huge number from the roads and make them safer to boot. true, many can 'blag it' through a test, but i bet you there are a surprising amount of people that simply shouldnt be on the road...
2 birds with one stone i think.

[kenp]

Women should only be allowed to drive if accompanied by a male.
This would put an end to all these silly school runs, revive the jobs market, clear half the cars off the road and you would still have somebody to drive you home from the pub.

[diesel ed]

Pigeon said:

Improve public transport to provide a realistic alternative. Increases of capacity both for the trains themselves and the routes, abolition of station car park charges for rail users and lowering of fares to undercut petrol costs being three important aspects.

Perhaps they could whack a whopping tax on petrol, say increasing the cost of a litre from under 20p to over 80p, and let "public" transport companies off any kind of fuel duties. Maybe even give a big chunk of the extra revenue raised from motorists to the "public" transport companies as a sunbsidy. That should make a difference. Maybe raise a few tens of billions to allow them to increase capacity on a rail line of two.

[deeen]

Build more roads II

[markmullen]

Stiffer penalties for poor lane discipline, look at most busy motorways (obvious exceptions where gridlocked) and if it traffic was redistributed it would look a whole heap quieter.

Incentives for hauliers to use alternative forms of transport, railways / canals / rivers etc.

Variable speed limits, from 40 to 50 like the M25 up to do as you wish at quiet times / middle of the night. These would also be affected by weather conditions, lower limits in fog / snow, higher limits on bone dry crystal clear days.

[diesel ed]

markmullen said:

Incentives for hauliers to use alternative forms of transport, railways / canals / rivers etc.

diesel ed said:

Perhaps they could whack a whopping tax on petrol, say increasing the cost of a litre from under 20p to over 80p, and let "public" transport companies off any kind of fuel duties. Maybe even give a big chunk of the extra revenue raised from motorists to the "public" transport companies as a sunbsidy. That should make a difference. Maybe raise a few tens of billions to allow them to increase capacity on a rail line of two.

You could put loadsa duty on diesel too!

[iam]

I blame the traffic jam problem on the massive influx of "Foreigners" being given free cars by the "Dept. of Freebies" myself!

iam

[8Pack]

I think a little "sideways" thinking is necessary.

Whenever you see film of the "rush hour jam" filmed from the air by our news-hounds. Take a look at the other carriageway, betcha' it's nearly empty! Why? Are all the jobs in the same place? A little social engineering req'd I think. These day's do ALL the jobs really need to be in the town centre?

Use of the hard shoulder as an extra slow lane in bottle neck spots at rush hour, controlled by signs {as in Europe}.

When a town BY PASS is built, it should remain JUST THAT. Not an excuse for local councilors to allow building of industrial estates, Retail Parks, traffic lights, roundabouts, Etc, Etc, Etc, along it's length so that it is no longer a By-pass but a new town centre! It's absolutely STUPID! Then we need a by-pass for the by-pass!

Public transport of course should play a part, but it's no use for any Government or Local Authority bleating on about it's lack of use until they have bloody built it!
Manchester has just had an extension to the successful tram network refused by HMG!

If we don't build Public transport into our network (even if it's only from the car park to your place of work) I think we're bound to fail. Transport has been a political football for far too long.

Er! Sorry folks, Rant over! I need a drink! Ah! That's better!

[parrot of doom]

Make people realise they shouldn't live 30 miles away from work.

Charge for motorway and trunk road use at peak hours.

Make public transport absolutely free, and raise everyone's taxes slightly to pay for it (works for the NHS).

Free lollipops on all public transport.

[8Pack]

parrot of doom said:

Free lollipops on all public transport.

Aw!....Can't we have Doughnuts?

[safespeed]

No to these:

Congestion charging
Hard shoulder running
Unnecessary speed reductions
Speed cameras
Lie to folk about traffic dangers (encourages the school run)
Nick so much cash from the motoring tax take
Give buses priority
Meddle


Yes to these:

Better driver training
Build strategic roads
More traffic police
More teleworking
More teleshopping
Sensible investment in public transport
Remove traffic obstructions and bus lanes on through routes
Optimise traffic lights for throughput
Respect market choices

[8Pack]

Have to disagree with about "hard shoulder running " Paul, as in Europe under control of signs it seems to work quite well. For instance, came back through Germany this year, accident in outside lane of 2 lane motorway, signs indicated "use hard shoulder." The disruption was minimal, I thought it worked well.

Hard shoulder running would have to be under Police control of course, not just timed for "Rush Hour" but could be if Police agreed for bottlenecks. just my 2p worth. I think it works well when speeds are slow enough to be safe.



>> Edited by 8Pack on Saturday 27th November 05:37

[safespeed]

8Pack said:

Have to disagree with about "hard shoulder running " Paul, as in Europe under control of signs it seems to work quite well. For instance, came back through Germany this year, accident in outside lane of 2 lane motorway, signs indicated "use hard shoulder." The disruption was minimal, I thought it worked well. Hard shoulder running would have to be under Police control of course, not just timed for "Rush Hour" but could be if Police agreed for bottlenecks. just my 2p worth. I think it works well when speeds are slow enough to be safe.

I meant no "routine" hard shoulder running. The D(a)fT have such plans. Shudder. Perhaps they have forgotten why we have a hard shoulder?

In temporary and emergency situations, under control of the Police, hard shoulder running is absolutely fine by me.

[Flat in Fifth]

safespeed said:

8Pack said: Have to disagree with about "hard shoulder running " Paul, as in Europe under control of signs it seems to work quite well. For instance, came back through Germany this year, accident in outside lane of 2 lane motorway, signs indicated "use hard shoulder." The disruption was minimal, I thought it worked well. Hard shoulder running would have to be under Police control of course, not just timed for "Rush Hour" but could be if Police agreed for bottlenecks. just my 2p worth. I think it works well when speeds are slow enough to be safe. I meant no "routine" hard shoulder running. The D(a)fT have such plans. Shudder. Perhaps they have forgotten why we have a hard shoulder? In temporary and emergency situations, under control of the Police, hard shoulder running is absolutely fine by me.

Totally agree with safespeed on this, they are setting this up on M42, together with variable limits. Looking at the intervals between the laybys which are being built as refuges when the hard shoulder is used for routine running.... well let's say I shudder to think of the consequences.

I would add one thing to the must do's.

Stop this stupidity with speed limited vehicles, it hasn't worked on heavies etc, and it isn't going to work on LGVs and minibuses either.

Assuming that is a non starter as the legislation is already in place, then place further lane restrictions on speed limited vehicles.

As an example, stop the M6 toll extension stupidity, build an extra fourth lane on the current M6, ban all speed limited vehicles out of lanes 3 & 4.


>> Edited by Flat in Fifth on Saturday 27th November 08:29

[nonegreen]

My solution is simple and I knicked it off Mao. All the government funded workers would have to report and be asked 1 question. All those in non usefull jobs, ie 95% of them would get a one word reply "Road"

This would take the form of Q "What you do?" A "Erm well I am a senior co-ordinator in the communications agency" A "Good, Road" "Next"

It would take a while but within a few days we would have a seriously big road building gang and within a few weeks some seriously nice roads. Trafpol would of course become armed and be instructed to deal with road protestors in the prescribed way. "Swampy" would have to change his name to "buried alive" and the "Guardian" Leader would daily be apopleptic with rage. These are of course just some of the fringe benefits. The judicial system would benefit too, cos in sentencing chavs Magistrates would be able to use the "Road" sentence and proclaim hard labour in units of 5 years. There would be no need for ID cards because any asylum seekers would be welcomed and invited to join the "Road" gang. Indeed any stray people found wandering who could not speak English would be offered food and accomodation in return for work on the "Road" gang. Of course any who refused could be accomodated at the "Without Gates" accomodation centre in Dover. Any road protestors who surrendered would of course need to find work and in the spirit of "European Human rights" we would offer them alternative work to "Road" on the "speed hump removal partnership" or perhaps with the "speed camera recycling agency". Clearly some of those who have been at the centre of this recent aberration in human evolution would need to be rehabilitated. I think for the more severly retarded such as Professor David Begg and Richard Brunstrom etc, a complete change would be ideal and there is of course always work at Huntingdon Life sciences.

[tallbloke]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4043803.stm

"...innovative measures to tackle congestion.
These include lanes dedicated to specific vehicles, lanes that can change direction, opening the hard shoulder during busy periods..."



The highways Agency obviously think too many lives have been saved by the scameras and are coming up with ways of rectifying the situation.

BBC news at ten last night casually announced that the use of the hard shoulder as an extra lane wouldn't start until next year.

So that's ok then.