The Crisis of Overcrowding and Cooperation for a Solution - Report Example

The Crisis of Overcrowding and Cooperation for a Solution All over the world, people wait in their cars as the ever-present gridlock makes commutes long, even hazardous. So much time is wasted in the commute from one place to another, and the Omni-present issue that people depend on their vehicles and a safe, efficient way of traveling inside of them. There is no exception to this in the United Kingdom. UK citizens, like the rest of the world, are plagued by what seems to be inadequacy in the road system and put pressure on the government’s responsibility to do something about street and freeway overcrowding. The statement “The present Government’s attempts to solve the crisis of overcrowding on the UK’s roads are doomed to failure” is a statement that is true through the fault of communication. The United Kingdom’s government has made attempts to try and reduce the crowding on the road system, but the citizens of the United Kingdom need to follow through and support these remedies and if they don’t, constructively criticize a specific solution and present a better one. Overall, the government is trying hard to stop the overcrowding on the United Kingdom’s road system, but needs the support of the inhabitants of the country to go the most successful route. The first thing the government seems to implement, according to the Hansard written answers between Chris Grayling and Mr. Jamieson was a publication of a ten year plan on stopping the overcrowding of the United Kingdom’s road systems, most particularly around London (2002, pg. 6). This most notably included a road-pricing plan that is in high debate by the constituency of British citizens that patronize the roads system, that is to say, many people feel invested in this argument. Matt Jackson from the IPPR (Institute for Public Policy Research) has much to say on the public’s view on road pricing, including that “The research shows that while more than 90 per cent of people see congestion as a serious problem less than 40 per cent said they supported road pricing as a solution (2006, pg. 2).” This poll was based on one thousand one hundred and fifty people within six three daylong workshop sessions. Matt Jackson goes on to emphasize that the people, though undecided about how to effectively thwart overcrowding on the U.K.’s road systems, need to support and or create a dialogue with their government to effectively find a solution. Of course, much of the controversy surrounding the road pricing issue of the ten-year plan is based on how the program would actually work. The people want to be protected (in that their privacy won’t be violated by the information collected to perform payment plans) and want to make sure that this doesn’t curtail other efforts to create better public transportation in the United Kingdom. Citizens also want to know how the money is being raised to facilitate such a program and want to be, overall, more informed about the policies surrounding road pricing. Another prong of the ten-year plan would be an emphasis on technology to curtail road overcrowding. David Friedlos of Computing Magazine states that the Highways Agency is contributing six million pounds in a national traffic technology program to help curb congestion on the United Kingdom’s busiest motorways. Friedlos goes into specific technologies used to do this, including “sensors in the road surface that gather data on traffic speed and flow and send it via a wireless link to a roadside outstation. The system then co-ordinates an appropriate response, via traffic signs, such as merging lanes that have wide gaps between cars (2007, pg. 1).” David Friedlos of computing magazine also notes that another reform in the system uses “queue managemencongest algorithms” to further reduce congestion to predict and make changes based on when and where roads are congested (2007, pg. 1). The government is trying to use technology to curb congestion and also as a preventative measure to make sure more roadway congestion doesn’t occur. Of course, the people are skeptical about how the technological branch of the plan would also work and if it is being implemented immediately. A cause for concern is a case like the one cited in The Independent, where overcrowding within the car and unfit roadways caused the death of three thirteen year old British boys and four boys who were critically injured. The middle-aged driver of the young boys was driving them to a birthday party for her young son, Anton. The vehicle crashed into a Honda Civic (also killing the driver) on Oxford Ring road, trying to beat traffic. Part of the responsibility falls on the parent, whose care was not suitable for the amount of people within it, and also the state of the roads, which caused the crash to begin with. The case example shows, too, that even the youngest members of the U.K. are affected by the roads system, and also how this is an issue that is the responsibility of the government and its citizens alike. According to Robert Peston of the BBC News, other national initiatives on the part of the government were met with dissent but became successful and widespread. These include the United Kingdom’s four hundred billion pound bank rescue plan and the United States’ treasury scheme of equivalent size to remove toxins from banks. These were at first disputed but found much support and success through citizen support (2008, pg. 1). According to Matt Jackson, again, from the Institute for Public Policy Research, the government has thrown many constructive solutions to overcrowding that need to be met with national support. If the government wants this support, they need to address people’s concerns about new programs and make these programs less of a mystery. On the other hand, if these programs do not want to be doomed for failure, the citizens of the United Kingdom need to make the effort to become familiar with new programs and do things like support local transportation initiatives, adopt road pricing as a measure to ease congestion, create smart solutions to use the roads less (such as carpooling and travel plans to ease the strain on transportation) and build public platforms for making their opinions heard. If the government programs do not want to be doomed for failure, they need to be accessible to their citizens, because the government action happening on this issue is worthwhile. Inversely, the citizens of the United Kingdom should take action themselves to better familiarize themselves with government reform. It is a joint action by the government and its people to make sure that the overcrowding issue is being tackled in a constructive, informative and intelligent manner. References Beard, Matthiew 2005, ‘Overcrowding may have caused fatal car crash’, The Independent, Tuesday 31 May 2005 viewed January 2009, . Friedlos, Dave 2007, Traffic Flow System Drives down Congestion: Technology to play key role in managing overcrowding on roads, online computing article source, Computing.co.uk online in the United Kingdom, viewed January 9 2009, . Jackson, Matt 2006, Government Must Lead Public Opinion on Road Pricing, public policy weblog, ippr: institute for Public Policy Research, viewed January 9 2009, . Main Line Trains 2002, Parliament transcription, Parliament Publications and Records in the United Kingdom, viewed January 9 2009, . Peston, Robert 2008, ‘A Global Solution Needed’, BBC News, 10, October 2008 viewed January 2009, . Read More