Two thousand years or so ago, the Romans built an incredible system of roads throughout Europe. The idea was to get troops and supplies efficiently from one place to another, but since the history and evolutions of roads is well documented, there is no need to reiterate the obvious other than to say – people still need roads.
Like everything, roads have evolved. An original Roman road would look like a primitive trail compared to one of our multi-lane highways. But perhaps we should take a serious look at and evaluate the purpose of these asphalt wonders.
We have trucks of all shapes and sizes bringing food and goods to our urban centres, and there are trucks that cart away our waste. We have buses transporting people from here to there on a fixed schedule. We have passenger vehicles doing the same as buses but on a personal level and on a more flexible schedule, and to complicate matters, we have emergency vehicles, police vehicles and maintenance vehicles, plus small economy vehicles, motorcycles and a host of other road users, including folks who are just out for a joy ride.
When we break this down even further, we have everything from a 53 foot tractor trailer so laden down it needs to go through half a dozen gears just to get going, to small vans nipping here and there making local deliveries. We have buses stopping at every intersection to either pick up or drop off passengers while other buses are on an express schedule destined to arrive at a bus terminal. When it comes to passenger vehicles, we have 300 hp plus performance vehicles capable of exceeding the posted speed limits 2 to 3 times – all competing for the same road space.
All these trucks, buses, passenger vehicles, and cycles are trying to share the same road all at the same time. None of this makes any sense.
Allow me to put this into perspective.
Imagine an NHL hockey game, a figure skating contest, public skating, and a speed-skating race all taking place simultaneously on the same ice rink. Of course, it’s ridiculous and, perhaps, unimaginable, but what I just described is the equivalent of what we do on our roads every single day.
Just like ice rink usage, where various events are scheduled, perhaps we need to schedule the various types of traffic to certain times of the day. For example, perhaps trucks should only be allowed into a city centre between certain hours and commuter traffic should only be allowed in and out of a city during given periods. Of course, this concept would have to evolve over time. There would also have to be some overlap – some exceptions due to circumstances, including emergencies.
But we need to manage traffic better, such as reserving certain lanes for certain types of traffic. We have a bit of that now with the introduction of HVO (High-Occupancy Vehicle) lanes, but this has to go further. A Porsche GT4 stuck between two trucks makes as much sense as Isabeau Levito (U.S. figure skating champion) being pinned between two Boston Bruins defensemen while trying to avoid a parent teaching their kid how to stand up on skates.
Let me know what you think in the comments below.
© Copyright 2023 – MAC
Updated – May 20, 2023
Stop! Restart! 