Why Congestion is Increasing

The number of registered cars on Britain's roads is constantly getting larger.  The number of cars grew from just under 22 million in 1991 to over 25 million in 2001. In 2001 there were four times more cars than there were in 1961 (6.2 million). There are many reasons for this increase in cars, some of which will be given below, but one of the simplest causes is the rise in the population.

The UK population has increased by 6.5 per cent in the last thirty years or so, from 55.9 million in mid-1971 to 59.6 million people in 2003. In every year since 1901, with the exception of 1976, there were more births than deaths in the UK and the population has grown due to natural change. Up until mid-1990s this natural increase was the principle cause of population growth. However, since the late 1990s, migration into the UK has been having more of an impact. There are now less people being born but people are now living longer, with fewer children under 16 and more people over 65.  This has lead to the UK having an ageing population.  More people and longer, healthier, lives create more traffic.  The way that we lead our lives also has a large impact on the numbers of cars on the road.

The car is the most common choice of transport with 69% of journeys to work being done by car.  People are also travelling further to get to work than they used to.  Over the last decade (1991 to 2001) the average distance people travel to work has gone up 17% to an average of 8.5 miles.  One of the reasons for this could be the drop in the number of people who move home when they change jobs.

People are also travelling further for leisure.  As with commuting journeys, the average distance travelled for each trip has increased - by around 11% to an average of 6.8 miles.  People are taking more short breaks, 2 to 3 days, that are often done in the car.  The out of town shopping areas and housing estates on the edges of towns developed in the 1980's and 90's have resulted in more and longer car journeys.

The overall number of people in employment has grown by 2% since 1990 and our rising wealth is creating a demand for goods and services.  Over the last twenty years, the amount of goods moved has grown by around 70%, and despite the number of goods vehicles licensed falling by one fifth, there has been a more than 40% rise in goods vehicle traffic. Although lorries account for less than 2% of vehicles, they represent 13% of traffic on motorways, with vans and light goods vehicles accounting for another 11%.

The patterns that have been just discussed, along with current government policies, suggest that there is going to 20% more traffic in 2010 than there was in 2000.  Congestion is going to increase; the problems and some possible solutions are outlined next.

Problems Caused by Congestion

Congestion costs the country a lot of money.  Times spent in jams are not available for other activities; and unpredictable and unnecessarily long journeys add costs to business.  These costs would be through time lost to business travellers and inefficiencies in their supply chain. The Confederation of British Industry estimates congestion costs the country's economy £20 billion a year.

Congested conditions are far more damaging to the local environment, especially local air quality, than free flowing traffic. Fuel consumption also goes up, as the most efficient speed for most vehicles is around 50 mph.

Drivers often find delays frustrating or irritating and they often resent being held up even if they had nothing in particular to do with the time lost. Because their trip may be delayed people often feel they have to leave extra time for journeys.  Using up extra time like this annoys people and sometimes it can be hard to determine how much time to allow for congestions, as hold-ups are unpredictable in incidence or duration. Between 1982 and 2000 the average traffic delays increased from 7 hours per person per year to 27 hours.

Congestion makes driving more unpleasant, and can put drivers in a bad mood. It is a major source of driver stress, and makes many people feel frustrated, angry, anxious, confused, and/or exhausted.  Other problems congestion can cause include the following: encouraging competitive or aggressive driving; making driving harder; limiting drivers freedom of action to travel where and when they want; and making accidents or mishaps more likely.  

Possible Solutions to Congestion

One answer is to make better use of the space available to us.  We can do this by:  managing urban growth to make the fullest use of public transport; locate shops, leisure and entertainment, and offices near to major public transport interchanges; and building housing within existing urban areas.

We can also change the way that we travel.  Work place or school travel plans that include car sharing, more use of public transport, and walking or cycling can all help.  For more about school travel plans see our travelwise or our safer routes to school pages.  The government is providing funding to help educate people and set up new travel plans.

Working from home making use of computers and the internet, known as teleworking, can also help.  The number of teleworkers has increased by 13% each year since 1997.  Studies estimate teleworking could reduce car commuting by 6% by 2015.  Many companies are now starting to have virtual meetings where the use of web cameras and the internet can allow people to attend a meeting even though they may be in many different places.

The highways agency will also be working to manage traffic better on major roads, such as motorways. They will establish more control centres that will monitor the motorway network and organise action when an incident occurs.  The agency will also deploy a uniformed motorway patrol service, operating round the clock, with powers to take action and a focus on taking whatever steps are necessary - as soon as possible - to get traffic flowing.  It is estimated in the first two years it will be able to reduce the delays caused by incidents on motorways by 5%.

Drivers can also make use of modern technology.  On board congestion monitors and telecommunications has enabled several companies to offer drivers real time information about conditions ahead of them, and options for alternative routes. Some systems can also provide automatic notification of a collision to the emergency services, with an accurate location.  If drivers get information about the current state of the network, where congestion is, weather conditions and incidents/collisions before they start their journeys congestion can be avoided or reduced.  This can be gained using the media or the internet.  One useful site for looking at traffic flow is: www.highways.gov.uk/trafficinfo/

In a ten-year plan published in 2000 the government has provided a major increase in public transport funding along with producing extra road capacity and suggested the importance of congestion charging.  Congestion charging could be done in four ways: payment for entering or being in an urban area within a defined boundary (the London scheme has proved very successful); payment for using new capacity on inter-urban roads (such as the M6 Toll Road); to pay to use new lanes after a road has been widened (this in now being done on some highways in the United States); to pay to use existing capacity on rural roads (this could push traffic onto other roads though).

With modern technology a fifth method of congestion charging is now being suggested.  This could also change the way that road users are taxed as they could be charged for how often, when and where they use the roads.  Advantages of general charging to use the roads would be: road pricing would make people look at other methods of travel more; it would reduce the cost of motoring on clear roads; and it would avoid the problems caused by only charging for a few roads as motorists would not be able to change their routes to avoid being charged.  Researchers have suggested that a scheme like this would cause people to use the roads that we have better and would avoid the reduction in speed across the road network the growth in congestion is causing.  For an example of how a general charging scheme could help keep traffic flowing click here.

No country has yet introduced a system where drivers are charged whenever they drive, mainly because the technology was not good enough.  The government is going to introduce charging for lorries in 2006 so it will be interesting to see how well it works.