Research Paper On The Issue Of Traffic Congestion In Big Cities

Abstract

Traffic congestion is a major urban transport problem. Based on different researches, this paper studies traffic congestion in big cities in order to explain this serious issue. Particularly, there are three main contents mentioned in the paper, including the causes, effects and finally some proposed solution for it. The paper illustrates that traffic congestion has rapidly grown in popularity for several specific reasons and it is also reported to exert harmful effects like environmental pollution or accident. Therefore, the research paper draws the conclusion that people should put more effort to reduce traffic congestion as soon as possible

Introduction

Along with economy development, urbanization process presents accelerated tendency and urban traffic flow increases obviously. In recent years, with the rapid evolution of private vehicle, urban road transportation load expands unexpectedly and many way sections approach to packed limit in rush hour. Traffic congestion has been the general problem for most large cities. Traffic congestion is one of the global urban problems, which can lengthen travel time, increase energy consumption, compounded environmental pollution and result in traffic crash. If we take no measure to control it, not only individual journey price will be increased, but also the entire community transportation system will paralysis and urban maintainable development will be limited. Therefore, how to combat traffic congestion becomes the hot issue for each big city. This research is aimed at raising awareness about traffic congestion, including its causes, effects and solutions.

Discussion of Findings

What are the Reasons for Traffic Congestion?

Cities like New York, London, and Paris have all had to tackle thousands of cars running through their highways each day. Traffic jam is a huge issue for everybody inside the town. The main reasons why traffic congestion happens are more vehicles, poor road managements, and poor habits on behalf of employers.

In the article named “Traffic jam causes: the weird, surprising and more common, 2017”, Aceable has pointed out that distracted driving is affecting the traffic of the city every day. When drivers are diverted by their cellphones or other handheld devices, they may not steer at a stable speed, thus, accidentally enhancing traffic density. Drivers might also get abstracted at stoplights, which can influence traffic density once the light turns green. In fact, mobile phone interruption at traffic lights can make a tremendous impact on regular traffic flow for an average of 27 seconds after we’ve stopped sending a message, according to the AAA Foundation. We should never text and drive, as it can not only increase traffic jam, but also increase our accident risk.

Shrestha (2017) also stated that the insufficient infrastructure cannot deal with the problem of traffic is also a crucial cause. The public transport such as bus, subway or train is unavailable and low-grade. In addition, the highway and road network is unlikely to meet the increasing demand for vehicles.

According to Jakkamsetty (2015), heavy rain causes traffic jam. When it rains, the roads get a bit slippy, so the vehicles move slowly. It takes more time for vehicles to clear the post/junction and hence more traffic accumulates. Other than the greasy roads, the rain blocks the front vision of vehicles, to avoid accidents people move little slow. The pot holes and any open drainage system will be covered by rainwater, so the people doesn't like to take a chance they go on the safer side of the road, this will add to the existing traffic. Guangzhou, for example, had 32 days of rain in the second quarter, which contributed significantly to worsening traffic quality. The rain extended typical journeys by 30 minutes.

What are the Impacts of Traffic Congestion?

If we live in a large city or any area with a lot of people on the road, we are almost certainly familiar with the influences of traffic congestion. What we may not understand is the extent of the impacts of heavy traffic congestion. This snarl-up can have a tremendous impact on our personal life, occupation, our prospect and even our security.

As Morgan and Group (n. d) reported, the first thing many people think of when it comes to busy thoroughfare is the postponement. In the morning work hours, people are more stressed because of traffic delays that can make them late for work. In addition at the end of the day, the afternoon peak time is once more a maddening time because the business day is done and people desire to comeback home to rest, and traffic is avoiding it. They also remarked that these delays are the results most people feel because they are common to everyone who has to move hard through blocked roads. According to a Texas A&M Transportation Institute report, in 2015 congestion caused Americans to spend on average 48 minutes on a drive that should take 20 minutes. In 1982, average road delays amounted to 18 hours in a year, and by 2014 it had more than doubled, to 42 hours.

According to Hartman (n. d), drivers who become irritated may be more liable to drive hazardously. This contributes to poor health for those affected by the anxiety and drives other drivers to a dangerous situation. He also asserted that road rage also increases the risk for emergency workers or construction crew members who are working on the overcrowded road near dangerous drivers.

A study of Lee Morgan and Leaf Group found that the stopping and starting in traffic congestion burns fuel at a higher speed than the smooth speed when traveling on the avenue. Accordingly, this increase in fuel spending costs commuters extra money for fuel and it also causes emissions from vehicles. These releases create air pollution and are associated with global warming.

What are the sSlutions to Traffic Congestion?

There are several solutions to deal with this problem. It helps the society to grow better, save money, reduce stress and increase the safety of each individual.

First of all, the government should inspire people to take advantage of public transport or small vehicles such as bicycles or raise tax on personal vehicles. Especially, in some Asia countries such as Viet Nam, the local authorities passed law limiting to a number of vehicles for each family. In the future, Ha Noi (Vietnam) is also scheduled to invest US$31 billion in improving the capacity of public transport by 2030. The city is developing a public transport system, which by 2020 will be able to serve the needs of 30 to 35 per cent of citizens in the inner city and 15 per cent of citizens in satellite cities. By 2030, it will be able to serve the demands of 50 to 55 per cent of people in the inner city and of 40 per cent in the satellite cities. The method mentioned above is definitely useful in fact. Moreover, public transportation can get us to our destination punctually while cutting down the amount of traffic on the ways. Clearly, public transportation drivers are frequently updated on road conditions by their message so that if there is an accident, the drivers can regulate their routes to prevent vehicle congestion. It is also less expensive to take public transportation and more relaxing as we don’t have to sit in traffic wondering if we will be late for work and we can catch up on reading, social media, or listen to some new music.

Additionally, according to “5 simple ways to do our part to reduce traffic”, avoiding peak times is considered as another solution. Obviously, there are specific times of the day when more vehicles are on the roads, usually people moving to work or school in the mornings and people moving home in the evenings. Also known as peak hour traffic, major cities of San Francisco, Miami, Houston, and Seattle all have the highest traffic congestion levels between 56- percent up to 77-percent, according to Tom Tom North American Congestion Index. To solve this problem, we can reduce our time spent with our private vehicles in slow traffic by driving when there are less vehicles out on the road. Try to plan trips to the bank and errands such as the grocery shopping during afternoon hours — before or after the lunch rush — and later in the evenings after workers get home. Last but not least, before we go on any journey plan out our route so we can avoid any road construction or other traffic congestion. There are numerous apps available for our cellphone that will tell we in real-time about traffic congestion. These apps permit drivers who are actually on the road to direct information to other phone users worrying traffic conditions.

Conclusion

This research aims to demonstrate some of the facts behind traffic congestion. Traffic congestion is caused by the public's over-reliance on private transportation and failure to keep up with the zooming expansion of modern societies and their demands. To solve this problem, it is important to make use of public transport, avoid rush hours as well as plan for each trip. Obviously these solutions take a lot of time and effort with each individual; however, it does bring us a good future.