Traffic and Transport Essays

by DIVYA RAJKUMAR
(DUBAI,UAE)

Increasing the price of petrol is the best way to solve growing traffic and pollution problems.

To what extent do you agree or disagree?

What other measures do you think might be effective?

With surging population and urbanisation, the traffic congestion and air pollution have become pressing issues in the todays society. Most people believe that soaring petrol price is the best way to tackle these issues. Some people believe that hike in the petrol prices will reflect on the low economy residents. However, the car owners are the middle and high income people therefore still the congestion and air pollution persists. In my perspective, increasing petrol price is not only the best solution but also the other measures can be added up.

Firstly,the government can urge the citizens to use a electric car in lieu of petrol car. In addition,non motor vehicles such as bicycle would mitigate CO, CO2 emissions and global warming. Besides that the government can build SPECIAL lanes for bike riders and also government can adhere obligatory pollution levy or congestion charges. So, the money received can be leveraged to reform public transportation systems such as metro,trams etc.

Additionally,alternative to fossil fuels can be bio diesel obtained from vegetable oil or animal fat which are predominately used in USA . These bio diesels in turn reduces emissions. For instance,British train operating company have incorporated 80% petro-diesel and 20% bio-diesel. As a result,these naturally obtained oils could protect environment from green house emissions, bio degradation.

To sum up, Rising fuel prices is not the optimal approach to bring down the amount of traffic congestion and pollution issues. Alternatively,other rigorous methods can be adhered to tinker the current system. Despite this,it is the combined effort of the government and people to guard the environment by planting more trees which will moderate the air pollution.

Reducing Traffic and Pollution

by Drape
(Italy)

Over recent years, some people have claimed that an increase in the price of petrol could solve both traffic and pollution issues. Even though I believe that this idea can help preventing the use of cars to some extent, more effective and efficient options should be considered.

To begin, it’s considered truth that a raise of the prices of some goods can lead to a decrease of the number of buyers, thus it would make sense to solve pollution and traffic related problems with a higher price of petrol. On the other hand, some people may be attached so much to the benefits provided by their vehicle that they decide to not change it. For example it could be preferable to go to work by car instead of train because it’s more comfortable, quicker and overall better even if it costs more.

Nevertheless, a solution to the problem still exists. In fact, it is accepted that, in order to reduce pollution, we should start using eco-friendly sources of energy, such as hydrogen and electricity. In the short term, the consumers may see only more costs due to the switch of technology, however I am convinced that in the long term these would be surpassed by the benefits. In fact, non-petrol sources of energy will cost much less in the future. Moreover, this statement is true also today if we compare the features of some cars.

All in all, I believe that, in order to solve the environmental issues we have today due to traffic and pollution, we ought to shift the focus from increasing the price of petrol to the research of alternative technologies. In fact, as far as I am concerned the total substitution of petrol is by far the most efficient and effective solution to the problem.

Please check and grade

Private Transport Systems and Safety

by Mahima
(Kathmandu, Nepal)

In some countries privately owned transport systems have a poor safety record. Yet it is the governments who have ultimate responsibility for public safety.

How can governments ensure that private transport companies do not neglect safety regulations?

With rapid globalization the economic status of an individual has upgraded encouraging people to own a private vehicle which is believed to have poor safety record. In the context of overpopulated city such as kathmandu, it has been a cause of threat for a safety of general public.

Firstly, the large numbers of private vehicle on the street of Kathmandu has been a major problem resulting in traffic congestion. People are not able to reach their destination at time. Even the ambulance carrying serious patient is not able to reach hospital in time. Secondly, negligence among the private vehicle owner such as not following the traffic rules, drinking and driving, competitions among the youngster to overtake the other vehicle has been a main reason of accident. Even the person who follows the traffic rule and crosses the road using zebra crossing has been the victim of road traffic accident.

The rules and regulation implemented by the government is so weak that the culprit can easily escape the accident case after paying some amount even the victim dies. Since the government is responsible for the public safety, serious step should be taken so that nobody neglects the safety regulations. It should ensure that each and every members of the city using the road follows the traffic rule, with severe punishment and heavy penalty provision to those who breaks it or causes road traffic accident. In addition, the government should also limit buying and selling of the vehicle to decrease the number of vehicle in the road. The distribution of the license should also be controlled by increasing the age requirement so that the youngster does not get involved in road traffic accident.

In conclusion, government is responsible for public safety which can be ensured by strengthening the traffic rules with punishment for negligence.

please check my essay and suggest how to improve it

Improving Road Safety

by vijay
(alappey)

The only way to improve the safety on roads is to implement stricter punishment for driving offences?

Do you agree or disagree? What is your opinion?

There are many factors which influence the safety on roads, even in the recent years roads are becoming unsafe places for people. In fact, a driving offence is one of the reasons for unsafe roads, but implementing stringent punishment alone would not enhance safety on roads.

To begin with, better road conditions would have a great impact on road safety. This would mean certain road conditions like potholes, narrow and curved roads would cause serious problems even to disciplined drivers who would lose control over the vehicle, which may lead to road accidents. In such cases, stricter punishment is an illogical idea to implement.

Moreover, optimal traffic control systems have an ideal role in maintaining safety on roads. To be clear, adequate numbers of traffic signals, signboards and police officers would have significant effects on road safety, where they guide and control the vehicle by basic traffic rules. Therefore, the chance for even rash drivers to commit accidents is unlikely. To cite an example, studies point out that countries which have proper control systems have great controls over breach driving. So, the idea of imposing of tough punishments for reckless drivers on roads safety has futile benefits.

To conclude, from the global perspective, stricter punishments alone would not assure the safety on roads. In my opinion, rather than finding punishments for the problem, it is better to cut down the reasons for unsafe roads. Better road conditions and proper traffic control systems would ensure the safety on roads.

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Please comment below on this Essay on Improving Road Safety in order to help the IELTS candidate improve their score.

Measures to Control Traffic Pollution

by Edgars
(Basel, Switzerland)

Hey everyone, here's my essay on petrol prices and pollution. I would like to have a feedback on grammar and structure.

Increasing the price for petrol is the best way to solve growing traffic and pollution problems.

To what extent do you agree or disagree?
What measures do you think might be effective?

Rising number of cars and consumption of fossil fuel gives rise on air pollution, whereas one of the solution could be higher prices for petrol. I agree that increase in petrol price will imply to mitigate those problems. Another leverage could also be implementation of progressive tax for motorcars.

First, it is obvious that traffic problems and air pollution arise from overcrowded streets and roads, in other words, increase of the amount of cars is higher that traffic infrastructure can withhold. Nowadays more and more people can afford to have a car and drive it daily. While fuel prices are relatively low individuals are not very concerned about congested roadways and, in my opinion, do not link it to rising air pollution. I agree that higher petrol prices will incentive drivers to reconsider the way they commute, and it is prospective that some portion of car owners will switch to environment friendly transports, for instance, public transport, bicycling or, nevertheless, walking, and lessen traffic jams.

Second, auto mobiles are note the only ones who convert fossil fuel to carbon dioxide and other air pollutants. Significant fraction of our everyday commodities are produced by petrochemical industry. As long as feed stock is cheap, petrol processing will thrive, whilst air quality will suffer. Therefore, a logical step will be increasing the price for petrol which would force the industry to research for greener manufacturing, for example, prefer biomass as a feed stock instead of fossil petrol.

In addition, if the general trend for solving both problems is to minimise the number of cars on the streets, then taxing car owners could be another effective measure. I suggest to implement progressive car exhaust tax, that would vary according to carbon footprint of the car. Furthermore, all incomes of the new tax have to be spent on infrastructure development of public transport. I think, that would clearly imply to drivers for prospective actions.

To conclude, I strongly believe that higher petrol prices will minimise traffic and pollution problems at some level, although more effective measures, for example, targeted taxing, would be needed to make a significant improvement.

Essay on Traffic Problems

by Fyo
(Russia)

Could you please check my essay on traffic problems? 😊

It's my first text I am making to get ready for the IELTS test.

I am going to leave it the way it is. I've spent 25 minutes to write it and +3 minutes for a quick check. My aim was to see how well I can write in the shortest period of time possible.

The number of words is 362. (Yeah. I checked the amount of words after I finished writing, so now I know it's not that hard to write 250 words on a topic. Next time I'll try not to write that much)

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In order to solve traffic problems, governments should tax private car owners heavily and use the money to improve public transportation.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of such a solution?

Over the last few years, the number of car owners rapidly increased. It led to a rise of traffic problems, such as traffic jams, violation of parking regulations and road accidents. In order to ameliorate the situation, the government and the authorities are discussing the introduction of taxes for private car owners. They say the money paid by the drivers could be used to improve the transport situation. Is it really a solution for the issue?

On the one hand, introducing extra taxes for drivers sounds like a good idea. The money could be used to repair the roads which are in poor condition at the moment. But on the other hand, repairing the roads will not make them wider. The actual problem is that streets and avenues in the center of the city were constructed without the anticipation of such an increase of number of vehicles on the city roads, in other worlds, the problem is not only in their condition, but in their width, which cannot be changed. In this case, the only solution would be building new bypass roads, so people who need to get from one part of the city to another could avoid having to drive through the historical center with its narrow streets and avenues. However, it would not solve the problem completely, as most of the people in our city work in the center, so traffic jams would be inevitable in the rush hours anyway.

On the other hand, if the government uses the money they get from the tax-payer drivers would be invested in improving the infrastructure of public transport, we could see fewer cars on the street. It is obvious that the main reason we use private cars is the lack of good public transportation. If the government increases the number of buses and makes the bus routes better planned, people could choose using public transport during their everyday life and use their private cars only for other trips, for example to get to the countryside or another towns.

To sum up, introducing the taxes might be a good idea, but the most important issue is to decide where to invest this money.

(362 words)

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PS: I didn't read the essay on traffic problems posted here on the same topic before writing it.

I really recommend doing the same:

1) read the topic;
2) write an essay of your own
3) then read the essay of another author to compare your vocabulary, ideas and structure.

Reliance on Cars

by James

I am taking IELTS this coming Saturday and in need of comments for my essay writing. Please help!

More and more people are relying on the private car as their major means of transportation.

Describe some of the problems the reliance on cars can cause, and suggest at least one possible solution.

The increasing preference of using private vehicles as the means of transportation has caused an array of issues in many parts of the world. This essay will examine some potential impacts that this trend has on society and suggest some feasible solutions to ameliorate such backlash.

Predominantly, the rise of private vehicles has led to a number of issues which severely affect the quality of life of the people. To begin with, this trend is the root cause of traffic congestion in many metropolitan areas. More vehicles simply mean more traffic; road infrastructures are unable to keep up with such a sudden increase, thus lead to traffic jam. In addition, this malpractice is one of the contributing factors to pollution which affect us day by day. For example, the amount of burning fossil fuels significantly increase in order to fire up the engines of the millions vehicles. This translates that the severity of the pollution to the environment are gradually rising due to the amount of carbon dioxide being emitted to the atmosphere. Apart from this, noise pollution is also derived, though partially, from the increasing number of vehicles, and it tremendously degrades the quality of life people used to have before the advent of the development.

This, however, is not an impossible-to-solve issue if proper measures have been in place by the government and individuals. First of all, heavy tax can be introduced by the government in order to deter commuters from tempting to use their private means of transport, due to its high cost. At the same time, it also encourages people to start using public transportation. Individual people can also contribute to solving this matter. Carpooling, for example, is an effective solution to traffic congestion, and should well be adopted by many, so that, instead of one car for one person, a group of four or five and share if their destination is identical.

In conclusion, although increasing number of vehicles poses some serious issues to the society, it can still be easily resorted if everyone join hands and take some serious steps to solving it.