Traffic Congestion

THE DARK SIDE OF URBANIZATION-TRAFFIC CONGESTION

“Nobody gives way to anybody. Everyone just angles, points, dives directly toward his destination, pretending it is an all-or-nothing gamble. People glare at one another and fight for maneuvering space. All parties are equally determined to get the right-of-way--insist on it. They swerve away at the last possible moment, giving scant inches to spare. The victor goes forwards, no time for a victory grin, already engaging in another contest of will.”― Andrew X. Pham, 

      

 Traffic Congestion is a serious urban problem. This picture was taken on Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain as I was journeying out of the city towards Diego Martin. It was truly an uncomfortable, frustrating, time consuming venture. To think that people endure that everyday is honestly mind-boggling. In January 2004, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development stated that cities and traffic have developed hand-in-hand since the earliest large human settlements. The same forces that draw inhabitants to congregate in large urban areas also lead to sometimes intolerable levels of traffic congestion on urban streets.

    The many causes of traffic congestion in Port-of-Spain includes the fact that it is the central business district so many people work there and the road system is very narrow. The city does not promote walking so for example a no cars zone does not exist. Also there is a shortage in the availability of off street parking so people park in the streets blocking the roads creating traffic jam. With an increasing population more people own and use private vehicles and disregard public transportation as it is not as efficient as it should be. 

    Traffic congestion can have serious negative impacts. The most obvious one being a stressed and frustrated motorist as time is wasted and in this case may result in late arrivals to meetings or employment causing loss of jobs or disciplinary actions to be taken against them. Additionally it reduces regional economic health and results in a lost of the country's productivity. Furthermore the most detrimental impact is its effect on the environment. Vehicles are left idling for hours releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and increases air pollution. With the pressing issue of climate change and global warming we see how this can be a problem.  It can result in the wearing and tearing of vehicles due to idling and an increase chance of accidents because vehicles are in such close proximity and motorists get tired.

   There have been many failed attempts at curbing traffic congestion in Port-of-Spain. Just last year a new traffic plan was implemented by the Ministry of works and Transportation- whereby Aripita Avenue was made a  one way along with Tragerete Road. Certain streets in Woodbrook was also altered but eventually the traffic plan failed and was reverted to its original status. The water taxi was introduced and runs from San Fernando to Port-of-Spain, it was a good solution but however was not very efficient at times . The bus route which is located along the east-west corridor of Trinidad runs from Port-of-Spain to Arima. The problem with the bus route is that the maxis are limited so they simple cannot support the population of travelers and the buses can only hold a limited number of people. Additionally it is not always on time as it is  extremely sensitive to everything going on in the country. Prolonged rainfall,accidents , strikes, fires etc all disrupt the time schedule of the buses.

    To fix this problem a serious study must be done and the attitude of people must change.  An efficient and reliable public transportation system must exist. We must promote a walking society instead of a ' sit in our cars " society just to get to the grocery or down the road. Furthermore the city should be zoned so that private vehicles are not allowed in various parts. Car pooling should be promoted and citizens should be offered incentives for car pooling or riding their bicycles . But would Trini's ride their bikes to work ? No! because apparently you would be a laughing stock of your office . Trinibagonians like to boast and show off so why should I ride to work when I can drive in my brand new Range Rover or BMW? It is this mindset that we need to change in order to move forward and curb the problem. 

  Lastly, it is all good when said but when it comes time to enforce there is no one to set the example. The wealthy would refuse to use public transport with the poor, government officials would refuse to ride their bikes, or carpool or use public transport. By that the general public would ask " well if they not doing it then why do they want us to do ?" .This is a serious question posed by the public that government officials need to consider when implementing traffic congestion solutions.

    


EXTRA READING
http://www.mariavazphoto.com/curitiba_pages/curitiba_trans.html
A succesful solution to traffic congestion

http://www.newsday.co.tt/business/0,66452.html
http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,70804.html