[katewilsontv]

Hi,

I'm currently working on a TV documentary about the UK's roads!

I'm looking for people who have a regular experience of congested roads and feel as though they regularly get stuck on congested roads. Do you use the M25? The A4? Do you feel you are constantly sat in traffic waiting?

If you do, please get in touch and email: [email protected]

Many thanks.

[Trainman]

Well that has drawn a blank on here. Did you get any emails ?

[smudger]

It was probably due to the way the site is acting up just now, as we are all having problems posting on here, even with logging in?It took me about 10 mins just to get to post this?

[ficklejade]

Well, from my point of view, anything like this that mentions the M25 and M4 is just not worth responding to - it'll be another London centric programme. Sorry if that sounds harsh (and has NOTHING to do with my living in Scotland, btw) but most major cities have congestion issues. A refreshing insight would be on congested rural area roads; rat runs and the dire state of some trunk roads in England,Scotland and Wales - sorry to any NI folks on here but it's so long since I've been over I'm not in a position to comment. Popular tourist areas mean that local folks and businesses go through hell in the tourist season but does any media programme deal with that?

[Snowball]

I think, one way or another, the media has covered congestion. Please - not yet another programme on the subject, which will as likely be hijacked by the do-gooders who would have private motorists thrown off the roads.
Increasing traffic volumes, increasing population, small island and finite space - the only real option is to live with the situation until some genius with magical solutions arrives on the scene. Bet that would be a very bitter pill!

[smudger]

When we lived up North it was the A96 that was the major problem, then if you were heading South it was the dreaded A9 that we all hated!They say they are going to make it all dual carriageway soon, pity they never did that back in the 70s when they were modernising it, it would have cost a fraction of what it will now?Their excuse for not doing that at the time, was, the volume of traffic using it, didn't justify the cost?? But as already mentioned, that survey won't be about our roads here in Scotland?

[smudger]

Another double post, due to posts disappearing? How long before this gets sorted???

[ficklejade]

Smudger, I'll say one thing for the old A9 - the dangers were obvious - particularly the duck/swan crossing under the railway bridge near Dunkeld to mention just one! I agree, they should have gone for the lot - what we now have is a ridiculously dodgy road designed to cause lethal accidents, as (sadly) has been shown. When I head up to Craigellachie from Laggan, I use the old A9 rather than risk the "modern" version - it's only 10 minutes slower (Aviemore clog). This is one occasion when I would say that the road design is so bad it encourages bad driving.

[Snowball]

It matters not how much they improve roads at any given time - traffic will always find the best roads and fill them with vehicles. We've seen it happen time after time over the years. Increasing population and more cars/lorries on the roads automatically increases congestion. People want to drive faster and get to their journey's end quicker, but drivers are going to have to realise and accept that the reverse is the case.
With coastal erosion and flooded areas due to climate change, even what we thought as a finite area for the UK is, in truth, reducing in size.
In making decisions regarding the economic infrastructure of the country, the motorcar cannot be deemed to be anywhere near the top of the list of priorities.
For the immediate future, learning to drive responsibly in the prevailing conditions of congestion is rapidly growing in importance, and failure to face the reality of this factor will ultimately be taken out of our hands and restrictions applied as the powers-that-be see fit.
Make no mistake, the only reason we have not yet been hit hard (I mean really hard), is that the bean-counters haven't to date exhausted all of their less drastic ideas.

[Trainman]

Originally Posted by smudger

Another double post, due to posts disappearing? How long before this gets sorted???

I think that ADMIN has just abandoned the problem

Originally Posted by smudger

When we lived up North it was the A96 that was the major problem, then if you were heading South it was the dreaded A9 that we all hated!They say they are going to make it all dual carriageway soon, pity they never did that back in the 70s when they were modernising it, it would have cost a fraction of what it will now?Their excuse for not doing that at the time, was, the volume of traffic using it, didn't justify the cost?? But as already mentioned, that survey won't be about our roads here in Scotland?

Aren't the roads in Scotland repired under contract by a firm called "Bear". I remember travelling for quite a long stretch on the way to Gairloch on a road that was upgraded by the EU and was signposted as such.

[smudger]

Aye! Trainman, Bear is the contractor who built the road, but it's Highway Authority who are responsible for its upkeep.FJ, they kept a lot of the old A9 open, hoping tourists would use it, but they seem to prefer driving on the new one at 30 mph, so they can film the scenery?It's a really dangerous road, I once met a car coming at me straight on, as they had gone up the wrong side of a dual carriageway? As being foreigners they were used to driving on the opposite side of the road?