What does this mean for the future?

[Gareth]

The government makes too much money out of motorists to ban any except the most dangerous.

How does being banned stop someone driving? As a consequence it only makes sense to ban people who, by and large, will observe the ban.

[martine]

IIRC John Prescot stated years ago that school traffic accounted for about 30% of rush hour traffic. I must admit that around here it seems more like 70%, as the roads are remarkebly quiet in the school holidays.

Yep Bristol City Council suggested a few years ago it accounted for 20%. Thing is, in school holidays, families are well..err on holiday - so city routes will be quiet because they are sunning themselves in Majorca. They also suggested a minority of parents make a specific trip to school - it's often enroute to their place of work.

The other way of looking at the 20% is...if drivers used public transport, cycle, walked or worked from home just 1 day in 2 weeks (10%) then the congestion would be similar to summer holiday levels all the time - it often only take a small reduction in traffic for roads to flow (roundabouts, junctions etc).

[michael769]

Also it should not be surprising that a smallish drop in traffic might have a huge impact on our perception of how busy they are.

As a general rule I would perceive a road as busy if traffic volumes are such that it starts to slow me down significantly. I suspect that most roads have a tipping point between being slow moving and free flowing and that it takes a relatively small change to have a big impact in perceived traffic levels.

[Silk]

Many moons ago, when the son and heir of the family overdraft was at a small boarding school in the boondocks of Berkshire, we sometimes delivered him in the ancient Saab 96 V4. He got double brownie points and street cred for this ...

When my dad offered to take me to school (local comprehensive) in the 10 year old Austin 1100 circa 1975 in minus temperatures with snow on the ground, I took the half-hour walk option.

[TheInsanity1234]

Walking is not an option for me, when the school run is 13 miles each way, with a very steep hill about halfway along the route!

[Silk]

Walking is not an option for me, when the school run is 13 miles each way, with a very steep hill about halfway along the route!

Young people these days. No stamina.

[WhoseGeneration]

Thanks for the replies, especially the stastically based ones.
What prompted me to post this was hearing a headline on BBC Radio News, which, of course, was "deaths up".
Which led me to think, that'll probably mean calls for more speed enforcement, lowering of limits and giving justification for politicians to do so.

[TheInsanity1234]

Young people these days. No stamina.

Old people these days. No sympathy.

[Silk]

Young people these days. No stamina.

Old people these days. No sympathy.

During the war...