3rd most congested country in Europe

[NotAllThere]

...
Simple fact is that many of the main urban trunk roads were built a long time ago for a fraction of the traffic. Then throw in the lack of decent public transport outside of the capital and the number of people working who run cars and then the general housing increases that tend to happen outside city centres and it's easy to see why. Natural increases alone would have put a strain on the roads, without adding extra people from abroad.

Rubbish. It's all caused by immigrants and you know it.

[LondonManc]

Rubbish. It's all caused by immigrants and you know it.

[PurpleGorilla]

Shave 30min off your commute and become an organ donor...

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com...09b8a7a7f2.gif

[NigelJK]

Then throw in the lack of decent public transport outside of the capital

Most of the congestion in Manchester is caused by the deregulated buses (and the 'Bus priority' scheme).

Here's the local rag's take on it:

Bus company MD wants more of our money

Notice how the comments are not so supportive .

[Eirikur]

I bet it's all those migrants coming over, driving on our roads.

That's exactly what Farage said when he was late for an appointment

https://www.theguardian.com/politics...ukip-reception

[vetran]

I bet it's all those migrants coming over, driving on our roads.

Brake seem suitably unimpressed by it maybe they are the transport wing of the BNP?

Foreign drivers - Brake the road safety charity

A survey carried out in 2003 found that the number of foreign registered heavy goods vehicles travelling to Great Britain had increased almost two-and-a-half times (232%) over the last 10 years. [1] In the UK, there are up to 10,000 foreign vehicles working every day. [2]
However, in order to drive in the UK, foreign drivers do not need to undergo any additional training or testing on how to drive safely on our roads - this could be putting a huge number of our country’s road users at risk.

Currently it is not possible to give foreign drivers (non-GB licence holders) an endorseable fixed penalty notice. Also, if a foreign driver is summonsed and issued with a non-endorseable fixed penalty notice, there is no way of ensuring that they do not simply evade punishment by leaving the country. [4]

Research shows that foreign drivers are at least as likely to offend as UK drivers are. VOSA statistics show that drivers’ hours offences are detected in 3.7% of UK drivers, but this rises to 12.8% for overseas drivers. However, they cannot, in practice be prosecuted. The Criminal Justice (International Co-operation) Act 1990 makes it clear that failure to comply with a warrant served at an overseas address does not constitute contempt of court nor is it a ground for issuing a warrant to secure the attendance of the person in question. [5]

[BlasterBates]

Brake seem suitably unimpressed by it maybe they are the transport wing of the BNP?

Foreign drivers - Brake the road safety charity

So what do you think these lorry drivers are doing?

Can we just get rid of them and free up the roads.

[LondonManc]

Most of the congestion in Manchester is caused by the deregulated buses (and the 'Bus priority' scheme).

Here's the local rag's take on it:

Bus company MD wants more of our money

Notice how the comments are not so supportive .

The comments reflect the situation far more than the article itself.

You could arguably re-regulate the buses and bring them all back under a GM Buses banner but the congestion is caused by the bus lanes. Greater investment in the Metrolink system, cheaper fares and more regular trams would also help. People drive in Manchester because public transport is garbage. Having split my time between Manchester and London for some years now, I can say that Manchester's public transport is about 40 years behind London's.

[Mordac]

UK is third most traffic-congested country in Europe - study

I can't believe Rome, Milan and Florence are so far down that list. Mind you, the congestion can be a blessing; you're less likely to be carved up by a nutter (and Italian drivers are mostly nutters) if you're doing 0.1 mph.

[vetran]

So what do you think these lorry drivers are doing?

Can we just get rid of them and free up the roads.

We could take drivers willing to break the law & free to do so off the UK roads either by forcing them to register & be tested in the UK. We could significantly decrease accidents.

But of course that would be unreasonable.

If you read the article they make a number of very sensible recommendations.

Oh look ROSPA say the same thing.

Left Hand Drive Large Goods Vehicles - RoSPA

Most of the LHD HGV collisions in this study involved the HGV overtaking or changing lanes. Left-hand drive HGVs are 3.4 times more likely to be involved in these types of crashes than right-hand drive HGVs.

The study also found that left-hand drive HGV drivers were more likely to be at least partially at fault for the accidents in which they were involved, and the contributory factor most often assigned to them by the investigating police officers was 'failed to look properly'. This was often associated with their vehicle's blind spot, which was a factor in 76% of their accidents in this study.

This study also found that the foreign drivers found driving in Britain more difficult due to the unfamiliar road layout and road user behaviour.

Another study of HGV accidents found that one third of HGVs involved in sideswipe collisions were foreign registered left-hand drive HGVs, even though only 2% of HGV journeys involved left-hand drive vehicles 4.

Foreign registered HGVs tend to have much higher prohibition rates than UK registered HGVS for a range of offences.