The Traffic Monster......

Today’s Urban Tavellers will be discussing another woe of transportation in cities and towns while taking you through every traffic jam issue while providing causes and solutions. Hop In!

Starting The Engine! ………..Traffic Congestion 

Many of us have dealt with traffic congestion therefore we are all aware of how it irritates us to be stuck in traffic especially if we have an important appointment of if we are running late for school or work. But, what is traffic congestion? Simply put, traffic congestion also known as traffic jams is an event by which an increase in the use of road networks by many vehicles at a particular time of the day leads to the slow movement of traffic over long periods and not just an hour but one can be stuck in a traffic jam for up to 4 hours. Due to this people can become frustrated and can cause rage accidents.

The images below illustrate just the tip of the iceberg in relation to traffic congestion in Trinidad......

 

An image illustrating traffic congestion throughout the Chaguanas Main Road.

 

An image illustrating traffic congestion on the Chaguanas Main Road, Trinidad

Causes of Traffic congestion...

 

Since we have considered that Trinidad has a major traffic problem we can now evaluate and figure out the causes. In the local Guardian Newspaper in an article entitled ‘More Roads Cause More Traffic’ , as the title distinctively suggests, the construction of more roads is the major cause of traffic congestion. Therefore does this mean that we should increase public transport systems? Also even though it is true that the construction of more roads lead to the presence of more cars the reality is that most people who commute to and from urban areas have private vehicles and no one would leave the comfort of their own vehicles to travel in uncomfortable maxis/ taxis.

Another cause of traffic congestion in urban areas especially in Trinidad and Tobago is the presence of gasoline subsidies and anything which is subsidized there is more of it. Therefore if there is more gasoline citizens will take advantage of it. Having this acts as an incentive for citizens to use their own vehicles which in turn lead to the consumption of surplus gas.

Sometimes it is not always the previously discussed causes there are several reasons which we ourselves may not be aware of. Some of these causes include;

• Traffic signals being out of sync or malfunctioning.
• Limited hours for public transportation systems to operate.
• Too many vehicles per household. ( 1 is acceptable,2 is ok 3 or 4 is just ridiculous)
• Inadequate traffic lights in areas that really need them as seen in the video. The video below was taken in the streets of Arima, Trinidad and illustrates the flow of traffic and how dangerous it can be without traffic lights....

Accidents......

Car accidents occur either as a product or a cause of traffic congestion and sometimes even both on the roads. Traffic congestion is just about inevitable, especially in urban cities since there is a high density of people entering and leaving the cities at specific times of the day. Between the hours or 6:00 – 9:00 am and 3:00 – 6:00 pm, movement on highways and main roads are scanty and sometimes there is not even any movement on the roads; this is known as bumper to bumper traffic . The correlation with traffic congestion and accidents is present and its prevalence occurs in Trinidad as well. 

There are multiple car accidents that occur because of the intense daily traffic congestion in Trinidad and a lot of these occurrences happen either on the way into the city of Port-of-Spain or within Port-of-Spain. Past accidents have been both fatal and non-fatal but have been far more than it should be. The Guardian Newspaper published an article on January 6^th 2016, “Traffic warden survives hit......” as a woman suffered a fractured leg and many cuts and bruises after being hit by an SUV while directing traffic along Independence Square, Port-of-Spain. [1]. 

Many fender-bender incidents also occur in traffic congestion as many cars are in such close proximity; these accidents usually happen because of distracted driving where a person is using their phone or just focusing on anything other than the road and occur within the streets of the city, Beetham Highway and Wrightson Road, where the front or back or cars are usually hit due to the constant driving and stopping that takes place in traffic congestion.

Accidents also act as a traffic disturbance as it increases traffic congestion as a car accident will as cars block the lanes and reduce the incoming flow or cars, usually to a standstill; this can last for hours or until the car is moved to the side of the road or towed away. Also people being typical 'trinis' will usually hold up an entire lane of traffic just to observe the extent of the accident and and then go on their way but even this increases traffic congestion.

We the urban travellers would just like to stress how important safe driving is, even if you are in traffic, please do not shift your focus off the road because YOUR LIFE as well as the lives of of everyone else's MATTERS!!!!! Until next week, take care and stop accidents before they stop you.

References....
[1] http://www2.guardian.co.tt/news/2016-01-05/traffic-warden-survives-hit