Topic 11
Every day traffic seems to get worse on our roads. How can we reduce the number of cars on
our roads today? What alternatives can we offer car drivers?
The more people that there are in the world, the more cars there are on the road. People are richer too
and often families have more than one car. It has been proved that building more roads does not work;
it just encourafes more traffic. So, what can we do? People like their cars and the freedom and
independence that cars give them. One possibility would be to raise car taxes and fuel taxes so that
people do not want to spend the extra money. Taxes on new car sales as well could be increased in
order to discourage people from buying. Perhaps a used car sales tax could be introduced too. In the
same way motorways could have tolls charged for using them although this may just increase
congestion on smaller roads as people try and avoid the motorways. The government that introduces
such ideas will not be popular though and would probably lose power. Governments would therefore
be unlikely to set up such new measures. I think it would be better to try and change people‛s attitudes
and offer them alternatives. Educate them more about the pollution and waste that they are causing.
Persuade them to car share, use public transport or even cycle if the distances are not too long.
Countries such as Holland and Denmark are well known for how their citizens are passionate about
green issues and how they use bicycles when they can. Reducing traffic is a difficult task. I don‛t
think it is possible realistically to reduce car numbers but I do think that we can change people‛s
attitudes and get them to use different ways of travelling.