|
TAYLOR MAN ABOUT LONDON |
 |
|
TACKLES TRAFFIC CONGESTION |
 |
But will it kindle a new
epidemic of road rage?
By ROBERT TAYLOR
of TheColumnists.com
London recently introduced the world’s most advanced system to alleviate traffic congestion. Simply, cars have to pay £5 (about $7.50) for driving into the city centre. Failure to pay leads to a hefty fine and all the money raised is used to improve public transport. The system is policed by hundreds of cameras placed throughout town, recording thousands of number plates.
Some Londoners have the nerve to complain about this. They’re crazy. This is the first decent attempt I’ve witnessed in 10 years of living in London to actually make the city better. And it’s working, with traffic down by 25 per cent.
You can hear the birds singing in Piccadilly Circus.
If I had my way, the congestion charge zone would be extended throughout the city immediately, and the charge would be doubled. That way people would only use their cars if they really needed to, and plenty of money would be raised for buses and tube trains. The only people that lose from this are those who continue to drive in central London, but at least they get less congested roads. Everyone else wins outright as far as I can see.
A virtuous circle has been created. Fewer cars mean the buses get to their destinations more quickly. This improved bus service encourages more people to abandon their cars, which improves the bus service still more. In the meantime, pollution is alleviated and there’s more space for people to move about.
It’s a case of the carrot and the stick, with the carrot being better public transport and the stick being the charge to the motorist. Only--and this is the unfortunate bit--the stick has to come first. Money needs to be raised before it can be invested in public transport. So there’s an awkward period in the interim. Some people complain about this, and use it as a reason for scrapping the scheme. But that’s because they’re morons who can’t see more than about three minutes into the future. To anyone with half a brain it’s clear that a bit of pain now means a lot of gain pretty soon.
I think that this scheme will be successful and that it’ll be replicated throughout the UK. It may be tried in the U.S. too. Though whether New Yorkers, for example, would be as willing as typically-compliant Londoners to swallow such a bitter-tasting pill is open to question.
The reason I’m so enthusiastic is that in all the time I’ve lived in London, things have grown worse, not better. Take whatever criteria you like, and you see the same worsening pattern--pollution, litter, crime, traffic, stress.
How can anyone complain about something that helps ease these problems? London is so chokingly full that folk are actually confronting each other in the streets. While crime is regarded as a major concern, I’d suggest that unprovoked aggression has a greater overall impact on Londoners, and ever-increasing congestion is one of the main causes.
To give you an example, the other day, in a train station, I was walking behind a man who was barging into anyone coming close to him in the opposite direction. He was doing it in a cool, deliberate way, leaning into each of his victims for a sharp impact.
Then last weekend my girl-friend was subjected to a volley of abuse and swearing by a man leaning out of his car window. Her crime? To have walked across the road as his car approached her, mistakenly thinking that he had waved her through. Now even if she had deliberately or uncaringly obstructed him (which she hadn’t), is a volley of abuse appropriate or justified? And I mean real, offensive abuse. Nasty and direct.
These are not isolated examples, but part of a worsening trend. There’s a lot of aggression in this city. It’s not men any more than women, not the old any more than the young. Anger and aggression seem to be living in many people from all walks of life. Margaret Thatcher famously once said “there is no such thing as society.” I’m sure she was trying to make some deeply impactful socio-political statement. But as a vision of the future of London, it appeared to be about right. Society is pretty hard to find in this city.
A minority of Londoners commit daily acts which make life worse for the population in general--graffiti, litter, petty theft. But an awful lot more are just plain aggressive, and want an excuse to confront anyone that gets in their way.
Where does all this anger come from? In part, the stress and strain of modern life makes people frustrated. But I’m convinced that there is a deeper trend towards aggression as an acceptable means of getting what you want. It’s an infection that’s spreading.
Road rage caused quite a sensation when the term was first used in about 1996. Now we just accept that certain people turn into monsters when they get behind the wheel of a car. No term has been invented for the pedestrian equivalent, but “side-walk rage” will surely be with us soon. And then what about “bus stop rage,” “waiting room rage,” “check-out counter rage” and just plain “queue rage.” You can witness them all in London.
Did I say “queue”? Must have been a slip of the tongue, because Londoners don’t know the meaning of the word now. Trying to get on a train is akin to some sort of rugby scrum. It’s survival of the fastest. And as for giving up your seat to the elderly, well dream on. That last happened in about 1979.
But now at last we have something that alleviates one of the causes of this unpleasantness. The congestion charge won’t solve everything, but it’s a first big step in the right direction. It just may halt or even reverse the trend, and encourage people to be civil to each other.
The only thing that could derail it is a sufficient number of folk refusing to pay the charges and then the fines. We’re talking about a numbers game here. If there’s a critical mass of non-payers, the system won’t cope and it’ll have to be abolished. This is possible, because petty deceit (including not paying underground train fares) is common to a lot of Londoners. Anti-Kengestion websites (highlighting Mayor Ken Livingston’s sponsorship of the scheme) abound, encouraging people to ignore the charge and subsequent fines.
But fortunately most Brits, even if they disagree with the principle behind a new regulation, are still law-abiding and will pay. And such is the commitment of the London council to make the scheme work that I think they’ll succeed in tracking down non-payers. Thankfully the cheats are still out-numbered.
I’d like to report in a few months time that London has set an example for the rest of the world to follow. For once I’m confident that the city has done something right.
Watch this space…
©2003 by Robert Taylor.
The illustration is from IMSI's Master Clips Collection, 1895
Francisco Blvd. E., San Rafael, CA, 94901-5506, USA.
You
can comment on this column online. Please address your message
to either "The Editors" or Robert Taylor. To send an
email, click here: talkback@thecolumnists.com
| Home | About Us | Archives | Talkback | Shopping Mall |