Queues Likely Next Four Miles!

I have been in England for the last year and a half and certain road signs make me laugh, make me realize how different our two countries are.  Not infrequently car drivers encounter a road sign, a metal, fixed, permanent road sign, that says "Queues next four miles."  I assume all of you know that queues mean traffic jams and the fixed, permanent signs say you will get into a traffic jam.  Probably the traffic jam will only occur during the morning & evening rush hour, but in any case, you have been warned: this road is going to have a traffic jam at least twice a day.
 
I cannot conceive of such a sign in America.  What?  You know this road will be congested?  You've placed not a temporary but a permanent sign here: this road will be overcrowded, jammed up, clogged.  What are you saying?  If you know this is going to happen, then widen the road.  Don't just tell me the condition will be horrific.  Do something about it.
 
Brits know they cannot do anything about roads that are jammed at certain times of the day.  They've widened their roads several times, but even after the road has been widened the increase in the number of cars has caused congestion.  One recent newspaper report pointed out that one out of every four major highways in England will be jammed for over an hour a day.  The article went on to say that in the near future people will spend more time in their cars than they do at home.  Or queues next four miles.  Sometimes the sign reads "Queues likely next four miles."
 
England is a very crowded country.  They've packed 50 million people into 50 thousand square miles.  One source said England is the most crowded country in the world, but that is hard to believe.  Michigan is larger than England, 57 thousand square miles, and we have one fifth the number of people in that area, or around ten million people.
 
So what can England do?  England could encourage people to get out of their cars and take Public Transportation.  They know that.  Almost all the Government Commissions that have been created to study the traffic congestion problem, have said that there is no room to create more roads and more roads are not the answer.
 
One commission believed that cars will soon be obsolete -- the price of gasoline will be too high for most consumers and the price of cars will be too high.  They, and other commissions, have told the government that the focus must be on Public Transportation.  There must be more public transport and cheaper public transport.
 
But recent governments have not listened and roads have become more congested -- just the other day, on a holiday weekend, there was a thirty mile long traffic jam.  Public transportation has become more expensive, less reliable.
 
England is in deep trouble.  Their gas prices are the highest in Europe, four dollars a gallon, and their public transportation system is one of the worst in Europe.  They are aware of the problem, but it will take a massive influx of cash to even begin to tackle the problem.  Meanwhile, queues likely next four miles, or next thirty miles.

 

Copyright © 2004   Henry Morgenstein

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