Unlocking the Gridlock
The Key to a New Transport Policy
Friends of the Earth, June 1997
ISBN: 1857503074
Pages: 144
In this report for Friends of the Earth, at the time Political (and former Transport) Correspondent of The Independent Christian wolmar unlocks Labour's transport gridlock by outlining what the governmnent should do in its integrated transport policy. The message is that change is needed and needed fast, but that the solutions to our transport crisis are within our grasp.
Christian writes: The car is but a century old but no invention has so altered the very nature of our civilisation. Cars have undoubtedly brought enormous benefits to vast numbers of people, principally in the western world. But as well as the more obvious disbenefits of cars, such as air pollution and the environmental damage caused by road building, there are many more hidden forms of damage to society which are rarely considered, because the untrammelled need for mobility and the right for individuals to own cars at whatever cost to the environment and public health are never questioned.
There was a time, not so long ago, when it seemed that Britain would become as dominated by roads as the US. But it didn't work out like that. Britain is a small country and the amount of land that could be used for roads was being reached. London, with its high density, was naturally the first place where the roadbuilders met with concerted resistance, and what applied to towns equally applied to inter-urban routes. Most politicians, including many in the Labour Party, have not had the wit or the imagination to catch onto the fact that the public mood over roads has changed. But unless new policies are developed and introduced, the roads lobby will come to the fore again by default.
Tory Ministers considered it axiomatic that continued economic growth required a constant supply of new roads to take the extra traffic. However this roads for prosperity mantra does not stand up to any more than superficial analysis. Roads appear to play little role in stimulating economic activity and, in peripheral areas, may well lead to an outflow of jobs.
We have a love/hate relationship with the car. We love the mobility it gives us, but we hate the traffic which results. While cars remain a status symbol rather than a simple functional form of transport, any challenge to their supremacy is seen as a threat to their own personal identity by many car owners. The RAC is right to point out that many people have constructed their whole way of life around access to a car and that it is no good just working on blueprints which assume that this can be changed overnight. Nevertheless, part of the 'dependency' arises out of social policies and other decisions within the scope of Government which can be influenced, particularly over time.
One of the biggest barriers to a sensible transport policy is that motorists do not bear the full cost of car use. The tax system compounds the problem by further distorting the costs and overall economics of motoring. The large and unfair subsidies motorists receive need to be reduced.
Sustainability is about developing a form of economy that does not damage the ability of future generations to enjoy a similar standard of life. The impacts of current patterns of transport on our health and on the environment are extremely damaging, globally, and not just in Britain. A laissez- faire approach to transport has patently not worked. We need a National Transport Strategy, to cut traffic and the impact of each individual car.
Christian argues one of the most frustrating things about the whole transport debate is that virtually everybody agrees that not only is the present situation intolerable, but that car use has to be restrained and limited. We need to show politicians that enough is enough and that it is time for the priorities to be reversed to stop the domination of the car. We must strive to achieve the achievable and the unachievable may happen.
"All we want is a town with the public transport system of Zurich, the cycle facilities of Groningen, the pedestrian zones of Berlin, overseen by sensible national policies such as those of Holland and with electric cars and lots of'clean' buses, with nearby local facilities to reduce the need to travel. It is not much to ask."
What they said about Unlocking the Gridlock...
"Christian Wolmar has been better placed than most to observe what's wrong with Britain's transport system. His report demonstrates the need for rapid changes in policy. Mr Prescott would do well to read it,"
Roger Higman, Friends of the Earth's Senior Transport Campaigner
