Road Rant

[RogerL]

With the summer holiday getaway starting this last week roads have been been ramping up in traffic levels. Today some 3m cars were expected to join the fun. We decided to defer our trip to Wales until tomorrow as our programme was flexible. Not heard any horror stories wrt Dover crossings.

One of the great things about being retired is being able to "time-shift" journeys to a quieter day and time.

 

[PTA]

The trials of living in a small country with a large population! France is twice as big with similar sized population. Hence their better roads.
Annoying!

 

[woodsieboy]

It's not the size of the country thet really matters, its the agenda of the government to make life as difficult as possible for drivers and eventually force them to reduce their journeys, already I refuse to go anywhere with congestion zones, I refuse to use car parks that don't take cash,so if the businesses in those area miss out on my custom so be it. How else can the deliberate hold ups and road closures be explained ?
There appears to me to be no consideration given to the impact caused to drivers by the constant hold ups, everything is geared to pedestrians and cyclists and of course the sub contractors. I just wish I had invested in a company that makes/supplies temporary traffic lights.

 

[RogerL]

It's not the size of the country thet really matters, its the agenda of the government to make life as difficult as possible for drivers and eventually force them to reduce their journeys, already I refuse to go anywhere with congestion zones, I refuse to use car parks that don't take cash,so if the businesses in those area miss out on my custom so be it. How else can the deliberate hold ups and road closures be explained ?
There appears to me to be no consideration given to the impact caused to drivers by the constant hold ups, everything is geared to pedestrians and cyclists and of course the sub contractors. I just wish I had invested in a company that makes/supplies temporary traffic lights.

The population density causes most of that - without tarmaccing over big swathes of the countryside we can't have route duplication which would reduce traffic density and provide alternative when accident and roadworks occur.

There is a solution, reduce our population - but that's political.

 

[Devonisheaven]

The trials of living in a small country with a large population! France is twice as big with similar sized population. Hence their better roads.
Annoying!

Agree! More than twice.

 

[Devonisheaven]

There is a solution, reduce our population …

If Britains population was a quarter of the population it is……….There is nowhere in the world that would beat it……..But! 🤷

 

[otherclive]

Quite a number of us will not be around to see it, but with the demographics of the ageing “boomers” and a birth rate well below that required to sustain the population those remaining will be paid to use the roads 😂

 

[Sam Vimes]

The issue is complicated due to a number of reasons, population being one. The push to build more and more houses is yet another.

Housing is usually built on largish developments that aren't situated where people can work nearby or go to the shops or schools etc. So they have to drive.

 

[otherclive]

The issue is complicated due to a number of reasons, population being one. The push to build more and more houses is yet another.

Housing is usually built on largish developments that aren't situated where people can work nearby or go to the shops or schools etc. So they have to drive.

When we looked to move in 2019 we specifically looked for houses in a specific limited location. Our prime aim was to be close to our daughter and we are only 0.5 miles away, an easy walk. Also facilities such as shops, bus routes, garages, DIY outlets, church and of course a health center all came in to our deliberations. I can walk to the health center in 20-25 minutes, and pass through a commercial business estate that really does meet many of our needs. Grocer (Lidl, Tesco express, Sainsburys , M&S, B&M , Pets at Home, and Aldi, even MacDonalds etc) are all within a 15-30 minute walk away served too by buses. When we may not be able to drive all kerbs are dropped so a mobility scooter would not be a difficult journey. The cherry on the pie is the nature reserve very close. Took some patience I can tell you, plus then a house had to have parking for two cars and the caravan too.

 

[Buckman]

The issue is complicated due to a number of reasons, population being one. The push to build more and more houses is yet another.

Housing is usually built on largish developments that aren't situated where people can work nearby or go to the shops or schools etc. So they have to drive.

Problem is with more houses is that the country cannot cope with more and more houses as you do see more and more schools, hospitals etc being built. The current schools, hospitals etc can be difficult to access and even worse for commuters going to work as the roads are grid locked.

If you leave Worcester hospital car park at about 4pm it can take up to an hour before you can access a main road. This was very bad for ambulances leaving on emergency calls so much so that they had to relocate the A&E at a huge cost however it can still takes up to an hour to leave the car park. There is no parking locally and for us there is no bus service.