Cars Vicious Circle

Transport 3 pages

Public and private transport General Information

As in the rest of western Europe, in recent years there has been а large increase in the use of private cars in Britain. By the year 2000 cars, taxis and motorcycles accounted for nearly 85 per cent of аll passenger transport in Britain compared with less than 55 per cent in the early 1960s. During the same period travel by bus and coach fell from 25 per cent to 10 per cent of all transport and rail travel fell from 15 per cent to just over 6 per cent. Britain, where the first railways were introduced, now has а declining rail system compared to other European countries: the Germans, the Italians and the French all travel on trains much more than the British. Britain also has the most expensive system of (privatised) rail passenger travel in the European Union.

Following rail privatisation in 1996, passenger rail services are provided by 25 private companies. The organisation of bus and coach transport was also changed and much of it was transferred to the private sector. Smaller buses appeared in towns and cities and there was more competition between companies. As а result of better services and cheaper prices, the number of passengers travelling long distances by bus or coach began to increase again.

Britain started building motorways in the 1960s and there is а sophisticated system of major roads. However, the increase in cars and lorries, particularly in and around London and on the motorways, has caused а number of problems, with more traffic jams and delays for commuters and long-distance travellers.

Cars Vicious Circle

As the number of vehicles on Britain's roads goes up each year other statistics are also affected. For example the percentage of households with two cars rose from 2 per cent in the early 1960s to 23 per cent in 1999, and by the end of the 1980s two-thirds of all journeys to work were made by private transport compared to one-third two decades before. There are more company cars on the roads (usually with only one person in them) and more young people over the age of seventeen are learning to drive and taking driving tests. In general the south-east of England has the highest proportion of households with cars and this also gives the region some of the worst traffic problems. At the moment there are no toll roads in Britain, although such schemes have been considered. In Britain, unlike other European countries, cars drive on the left.

In recent years the British car manufacturing industry - at one time one of the most important in the world - has declined and imports of foreign cars rose from 33 per cent in 1980 to around 50 per cent in 1988.

Despite the increase in traffic British roads are still relatively safe to drive on and the number of serious accidents has fallen over the last decade. Many lives are saved by seat belts which have been compulsory in towns and on the open road since 1983. Demands for an increase in the maximum speed limit (70 mph/110 kph) have been rejected. А major cause of death and injury on the roads is drinking and driving; the permissible level of alcohol is higher in Britain than in most other European countries.

While cars make life more convenient for many people, Britain is beginning to experience some of the difficulties and expense caused by too much traffic. The М25, the London Orbital Motorway and the longest ring road in the world (120 miles/192 km), is а good example. Completed in 1986 at а cost of over £1,000 m, it was designed to reduce traffic problems in the London area but it almost immediately became overcrowded and has since become famous for long traffic jams. The average daily traffic flow rose on all British roads especially on motorways (from 53,000 to 68,000 between 1991 and 1998). At peak times and on some motorways congestion regularly causes serious disruptions.

In London the problems are just as bad and the average speed of the traffic is estimated to be approximately the same as it was at the beginning of the last century. Things are unlikely to improve in the near future. In general, although long-distance journey times have been reduced considerably, the more roads that are built, the more traffic there is to fill them, and the planners' job of predicting the number and type of roads for the future has become extremely difficult. Most of Britain's motorways - including the М25 were built for lower levels of traffic density and now need constant repairs.

In the future, technology will produce better and more efficient cars but there will be а lot more of them. In Britain, one view of these developments is that in а small area like the UK they will lead to increased concentrations of traffic with problems of parking, traffic jams, pollution and expense. Another view says that the car is а form of personal freedom and that there is no effective acceptable way to control the numbers of vehicles. The debate over the relative merits of public and private transport continues.

Date: 2015-12-17; view: 570