There is no doubt that traffic and pollution from vehicles have become huge
problems, both in cities and on motorways everywhere. Solving these problems is
likely to need more than a simple rise in the price of petrol.
While it is undeniable that private car use is one of the main causes of
increasing in traffic and pollution, higher fuel costs are unlikely to limit the
number of drivers for long. As this policy would also affect the cost of public
transport, it would be very unpopular with everyone who needs to travel on the
roads. But there are various other measures that could be implemented that would
have a huge effect on these problems.
I think to tackle the problem of pollution, cleaner fuels need to be developed.
The technology is already available to porduce eletric cars that would be both
quieter and cleaner to use. Persuading manufacturers and travellers to adopt this
new technology would be a more effective strategy for improving the air quality,
especially in cities.
However, traffic cangestion will not be solved by changing the type of private
vehecle people can use. To do this, we need to improve the choise of public
transport services available to travellers. For example, if sufficient sky train
and underground train system were built and effectively maintained in our major
society, then traffic on the roads would be dramatically reduced. Long-distance
train and coach services should be made attractive and affordable altervatives
to driving your own cars for long journeys.
In conclusion, I think that long-term traffic and pollution redections would
depend on educating the public to use public transport more, and on gervernments
using public money to construct and run efficient systems.
