was talking at work the other day...
in the 70's when the golf 1st came, it was X inchs long...in the 80's when mkII came out it was X inchs longers
in the 21st century, the golf is now X+X+X+X inchs longer(they get bigger each time)
so if this trend is consistent with each car...which it is...
AND we are buying more cars(which we are)
so far sake of an arguement the 1st mkI's as a benchmark...the mkV's are 250mm longer..using this figure for all the cars
that means 2.4 millions cars are year....24 million inchs ... 6000000000 mms 6000 kms extra a yr??(i think)
so at a guess since 1976 6000kms * 30yrs 180000kms.....i know there are loads of variables...so dont bother posting about the maths..its a summary
but on these figures(guesstimates) of 6000km extra a yr...when will we run out of roads
also as cars change every 5 to 6 yrs...does that also mean the road building should be done in 5-6 yr cycles as well?
just a thought :-)
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sometimes a little bit too much opinion....but its only because i care !!!
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Ah, but, mistakes in arithmetic and assumption....
If the 2.4 million you mention did in fact grow by 10" (unsure of need to mix units, but hey!) yes then they would occupy aboy7 60Km more road space. This is about 38 miles (kilometres or metres are not an acceptable measure of road distance in the UK).
If, since 1976, those cars had each lengthened by 10" a year, they'd be about 12 yards long, each. That'd make interesting motoring.
The answer to "when will we run out of roads" is, of course, "we won't", just as we won't run out of other resources. They will become far more difficult/expensive to find/use, but they will be there.
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population growth is the real cause of congestion- if we had 1800 population parking would be free.
Need to reduce, not increase the population- not a good message for politicians at elections
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This thought occurred to me earlier on when in the local village earlier. I'd popped out in the Golf and parked on the High Street, the street was full of overgrown bloated cars including SUVs, I'm sure in the scheme of things that there was far more room to park on the High Street 25 years ago when every version of what of saw today was much, much smaller. Including the MKV Golf I was driving.
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The people at fault are those who add further to the congestion by choosing to drive on already congested roads. On my regular weekend trip I can travel the last 30 miles on Sunday evening without hardly seeing another vehicle. That's my choice.
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L\'escargot.
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Motorway congestion could be drastically improved if people understood how to use the lanes properly. I have lost count of the number of times I've driven on a motorway with lanes 2 and 3 trundling along at 30-40 mph and lane 1 being virtually empty.
Dual carriageway congestion could be improved if HGVs were banned from overtaking each other. The A34 between Newbury and Oxford is a classic example of these "rolling roadblocks" - my record is 2.3 miles stuck behind an artic doing 40 mph overtaking a line of other artics at a speed differential that can only be described as glacial.
Road congestion as a whole could be improved if public transport provided an affordable, convenient and reliable alternative. The fact after checking out all options to get to work, I choose to spend a typical 3.5 hours a day commuting on some of the most congested roads in Europe tells you all you need to know about how the public transport option stacks up.
Cheers
DP
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04 Grand Scenic 1.9 dCi Dynamique
00 Mondeo 1.8TD LX
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Not mine - it's everybody else's.
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In truth, its a problem with so many factors, no one person or persons is to blame.
Certainly we have too much volume at certain peak times, the school holidays are proving that to an extent as it does seem quieter by some margin.
It would be good if there were incentives for people to work at night or perhaps staggered work hours to try and spread the rush hour out. I used to find that starting work at 6:30am meant far fewer hold ups as did finishing at 2:30pm.
We also have hopeless road networks that simply do not connect up very well and have bottlenecks built in - Northampton doesnt suffer badly with traffic at all really but there are certain junctions that just get choked up by poor traffic light management and no alternative routes.
The real problem is that nowadays few people live within walking distance of work and schools. Since it is commuting and school runs which seem to be the main culprits, this is where the solutions I think are, but whether anyone would actually do anything constructive about it remains to be seen.
Im very kucky because not only do I not live intown, but most of my customer base is on my side of the town so very rare is it for me to acutally leave the countryside and as Im self-employed, I can work it so I travel outside the rush hour. Starting at 9:30 and finishing at 4pm sure helps!
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Congestion is casued by commuting. This is clear from the lack of traffic during school holidays when a percentage of the workforce is out of the country or at least not going to the office.
However commuting from the suburbs to the city centre is one thing - there is probably no option in terms of the journey although there is a choice of the method of transport. The problem is that people get a new job and cannot afford to move house because the moving costs are so high; i.e. Stamp Duty. So people commute stupid distances to get to work, have to leave home too early, get home too late, are frazzled when they do get home, shout at the wife and kids, and then end up in a row which ends in divorce so you need two houses etc etc etc....
If moving house was cheaper and easier and all local schools were of a similar quality, there would be far less congestion, far less need to concreteing over the countryside and less crime. Easy what removing one tax can do!
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Government
Cost of moving home, inconsistent school standards, two parents working etc . . .result in commuting long distance rather than moving home.
Goods on the road which should be on the railway!
"poor" public transport policy and out of town office developments make commuting on train/bus difficult.
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Congestion is casued by commuting. ............
............ and school runs.
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L\'escargot.
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I travel outside the rush hour. Starting at 9:30 and finishing at 4pm sure helps!
Naah. You want to be home before the schools finish. So, say leave work at 2.30 pm. And there's no point in getting to work before the postie has been. So, say 11.30 am. Now that's my kind of working day!!
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