Gary's views

Gary's weekly views

Each week an article by Gary has appeared in the Plympton Plymstock and Ivybridge News in South West Devon. The articles are published here

TRAFFIC

78% of households in this area have at least one car, many having two or more and the impact on our roads is becoming dramatic. I realised on Friday when I drove Jan to the station (nobody warned me granny was going to volunteer to baby sit for our grandson 110 miles away!) that in my mind I now allow half an hour to get from our house to the station. Just a few years ago, I only used to allow fifteen minutes.

St. Mary’s Bridge roundabout and Marsh Mills are regular bottlenecks, likewise Laira bridge and the ever busier Pomphlett junction. Both the A379 and the A38 get snarled up at rush hour. What it will be like when the new developments at the Blue Circle site and Sherford have come on stream I dread to think. Never mind spaghetti junction, we will be gridlock county.

So why don’t we all take the bus when we go shopping? Or get to work by hopping on a train from the little used Ivybridge station? Or buy a bike and pedal like mad to get around town? Or all use park and ride? Or walk everywhere?

Just what can the policy makers do to get us all out of our zippy hatchbacks and onto Citybus? The London congestion charge has been quite a success, is that the only answer?

Naturally, there are some things that can be done. More regular bus services (there is a particular problem in the Ivybridge area at the moment) and more weather resistant shelters would be a start. More cycle tracks and a train timetable that corresponded to the working day would be also help.

But no matter how hard highway gurus work on this they can’t stop it from raining or level the many hills that grace our landscape. They can’t alter the fact that my car is warm and comfortable and the bus shelter is not. They can’t dispute that my Rover leaves when I want it to and never has standing room only.
Which is why the vast majority of us have chosen the car.
Which is why we have a problem, namely ever more congested roads, together with a steady increase in greenhouse gases.
Some say the solution is to clobber the motorist and force us onto public transport. Some say accept the choice people have made and focus on better traffic systems and anti-pollutant technology.

posted by Nigel on Thursday, November 04, 2004