Council should keep the traffic moving

CARDIFF council’s war on the private motorist continues unabated.

Not satisfied with putting speed bumps on every city centre road, they are now expanding the ridiculous 20mph limits. I get it – for roads near schools, in school hours – but at midnight with no traffic anywhere around? Thankfully, most drivers seem to be ignoring them.

The council is failing to address the real problems of getting around the city in favour of gimmicks like the recent ‘Car Free Day’ – what a great idea, on a Sunday, when there are always fewer buses, and train services are disrupted by track maintenance works.

Cardiff has a major and worsening traffic problem which is adversely affecting our economy, our clean air and citizens’ quality of life. It is now impossible to travel into, out of or across our city – at almost any time of day – without encountering traffic queues, and God forbid there is ever an accident or breakdown on the road network – instant gridlock.

The council’s priority should be to keep traffic moving as quickly and safely as possible, but their policies are seemingly designed to create traffic jams. Here’s my six-point plan to help solve the problem:

■ Speed bumps – get rid of them. I spent a long weekend recently in Billericay, with plenty of driving around Essex and Suffolk and came across just one speed bump (at the entrance to a private car park). Speed bumps wreck car suspensions, they cause air pollution due to the braking and accelerating involved, are major problems for ambulance drivers and bus passengers, and cause vibrations which affect properties. Newport manages to function without them – why does Cardiff need them?

■ 20mph zones – get rid of them. Or at least confine them to priority areas such as schools, or certain times only. Where is the empirical data (before and after accident surveys) that says these work in any case?

■ Road narrowings – get rid of them. Yet another cause of traffic jams, pollution and road rage. Or at least use appropriate signage such as “MERGE IN TURN” – some drivers need all the help they can get.

■ Bus lanes – why are they 24-hour? Why not rush-hour only, as they are in Newport, to help keep traffic flowing? Could it be to do with revenue from fines?

■ Turn left on red light – controversial I know, but it works in the States (turn right there, of course) and would free up road space. This obviously would not be permitted at complex junctions.

■ Traffic light phasing – improve, please. One set of lights I regularly use on Western Avenue is sometimes green for less than 10 seconds, with about three cars getting through each time. Meanwhile the queue builds up behind.

And please don’t say I should use public transport instead – in Cardiff it is just not good enough. My eightmile commute takes 20 minutes by car: by public transport it would be two buses, take more than an hour, the fare is more than the petrol costs and there’s a choice of just two possible bus times to get me home in the evening. Miss those and I would face a mile walk to the next nearest bus stop.

So, Cardiff council, get your priorities right, stop adding to pollution and traffic chaos. How about using the money wasted on speed bumps, road markings and signage to repair some of the potholes in our roads?

Stephen Mullis

Cardiff