Sultan Ali's Blog
March 11, 2016
Traffic Congestion: The Plague of Modern Society
Did you ever drive in Mascow, Mumbai, New York or Los Angalos?
If you ever did, you can't miss how traffic affect peoples' lives every day. The cost of traffic congestion goes beyond arriving late at work. Noise, Stress, Pollution, Road Traffic Injuries and last but not least lost of productive time, all are prices we pay everyday because of congested roads.
Richard Arnott, economist at University of California, describes the cost of traffic congestion in an article, The Economics of Traffic Congestion:
"Time spent ensnarled in traffic is not simpley wasted; for most of us, it's time miserably wasted"
If traffic takes a good two hours of your most productive time during a day, how on the earth you're going to drive your kids to play sport, go out with your friends to eat or drive your wife to hang out with her family!
Traffic congestion is a serious environmental problems. It affect the lives of millions of people everyday. Unlike other social problems - poverty, drug addiction, unemployment, bad education -, traffic congestion affects all income levels of society.
Nowadays, with the soaring home prices, many young people can't afford living in the city and they choose to move to suburb. They commute back and forth; and drive hundreds of miles everyday. It's a phenomena known by real state agent, " Drive until you qualify."
According to a study published jointly by the World Health Organization and the World Bank Group, five millions deaths resulted from Road Traffic Injuries, and most of them occur in Low and Middle Income countries.
I was moved to put on paper this post as my heart was torn apart after I read a story titled, "The Last Selfie" in the Gulf News. The story described how four teachers have lost their lives in tragic Road Traffic Injury while commuting from another city, where they work, to their home city. One of them took selfie minutes prior to the crash. They left homes to make a living, but they never came back homes. They also left behind them widows, orphans and sorrowful mothers.
Traffic congestion varies from a city to another. In New York, torrent of people move everyday. It's noisy and ugly but life goes on. On the other hand, some cities are completely paralyzed during peak traffic jam. For people who curse traffic congestion and can't put up with it any more, I have an easy solution for you: Use Public Transportation! Slow and inconvenient but it saves you hassling other crazy drivers on streets.
But if it happens that you live in a city where Public Transportation - God forbid - is not available, then I guess your problem is beyond this post. Just suck it up and live with the congestion! It won't kill you - at least in the short term. Traffic congestion is like smoking; kills you slowly and you don't even notice.
People sometime drive in a way that can't be described merely as crazy or reckless. In some occasions, these people seem like they are in suicidal mission or under the influence of God knows what!
God bless these misfortunate who live with the congestion everyday.
Watch Larry Greenemeier, Editor at Scientific American, explains why traffic congestion occurs.
If you ever did, you can't miss how traffic affect peoples' lives every day. The cost of traffic congestion goes beyond arriving late at work. Noise, Stress, Pollution, Road Traffic Injuries and last but not least lost of productive time, all are prices we pay everyday because of congested roads.
Richard Arnott, economist at University of California, describes the cost of traffic congestion in an article, The Economics of Traffic Congestion:
"Time spent ensnarled in traffic is not simpley wasted; for most of us, it's time miserably wasted"
If traffic takes a good two hours of your most productive time during a day, how on the earth you're going to drive your kids to play sport, go out with your friends to eat or drive your wife to hang out with her family!
Traffic congestion is a serious environmental problems. It affect the lives of millions of people everyday. Unlike other social problems - poverty, drug addiction, unemployment, bad education -, traffic congestion affects all income levels of society.
Nowadays, with the soaring home prices, many young people can't afford living in the city and they choose to move to suburb. They commute back and forth; and drive hundreds of miles everyday. It's a phenomena known by real state agent, " Drive until you qualify."
According to a study published jointly by the World Health Organization and the World Bank Group, five millions deaths resulted from Road Traffic Injuries, and most of them occur in Low and Middle Income countries.
I was moved to put on paper this post as my heart was torn apart after I read a story titled, "The Last Selfie" in the Gulf News. The story described how four teachers have lost their lives in tragic Road Traffic Injury while commuting from another city, where they work, to their home city. One of them took selfie minutes prior to the crash. They left homes to make a living, but they never came back homes. They also left behind them widows, orphans and sorrowful mothers.
Traffic congestion varies from a city to another. In New York, torrent of people move everyday. It's noisy and ugly but life goes on. On the other hand, some cities are completely paralyzed during peak traffic jam. For people who curse traffic congestion and can't put up with it any more, I have an easy solution for you: Use Public Transportation! Slow and inconvenient but it saves you hassling other crazy drivers on streets.
But if it happens that you live in a city where Public Transportation - God forbid - is not available, then I guess your problem is beyond this post. Just suck it up and live with the congestion! It won't kill you - at least in the short term. Traffic congestion is like smoking; kills you slowly and you don't even notice.
People sometime drive in a way that can't be described merely as crazy or reckless. In some occasions, these people seem like they are in suicidal mission or under the influence of God knows what!
God bless these misfortunate who live with the congestion everyday.
Watch Larry Greenemeier, Editor at Scientific American, explains why traffic congestion occurs.
