Issues on Roads in the Middle East

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Introduction

Roads in the Middle East face the very same problems as the roads of the other countries. A great number of people use cars every day to get to their job or on private business in order to settle some personal affairs. In the modern world, people tend to drive cars more and more often refusing to use public transport because of its inconvenience. No one would agree to spend even thirty minutes in a bus or tram crowded with people where one has to argue all the time because of the occupied vacant place or stepping on somebody else’s foot, moreover “busses and trains tend to be hopelessly crowed, particularly during the rush hours” (Justine Vaisutis: 104). Especially terrible the public transport seems to be in summer when it is unbelievably hot. No one would contest that it is far more comfortable to sit in one’s own car with air conditioning and light calming music than to use the bus where you are deprived of a possibility to relax. Availability of cars at low prices makes it possible for most of the families to have their own means of transportation which they can use any time and which is always at hand when you need it. The condition of the roads in the Middle East is not as appalling as in some other countries this is why it does not seem to be that big a problem. Much more attention is to be paid to the problem of traffic jams since it is very vital and touches the lives of most people in the Middle East. No matter how problematic the traffic jams seem to be for the Middle East roads, no proper solution to this problem has been offered so far this is why there is a necessity to reveal the possible solutions which would help reduce the number of cars on the roads thus making traffic jams not so frequently observed.

Driving in Rush Hours

What should be mentioned above all is that not using the cars in rush hours would help avoid traffic jams which make most of the drivers nervous because of wasted fuel and time. Mehran Kamrava (2005) informs that recent decades have seen an astounding rise in the number of vehicles in the Middle East, so much so that traffic jams have become daily features of even smaller cities and towns throughout the region. It is namely in the rush hours that most of the traffic jams are formed because this is when people get back home from work, that’s why “daily peak-hour traffic congestion is inescapable in every large metropolitan area in the world” (Anthony Downs: 2).

Reasons to Refuse from Driving in Rush Hours

Of course, not a single person would appease the idea that he or she should not use the car for coming back home but if given a little thinking this idea does not seem to be so absurd. Indeed, there is no doubt that it would be much better to stay in that part of the town where the person works for another hour and spend this time shopping, sitting in the library or computer club or simply in a cozy café drinking coffee and having a little snack rather than to spend this very hour standing on the road trying to see where the traffic jam ends or sitting in the car beeping constantly trying to make the car which stands ahead move faster. While the latter is most likely to make a person nothing but irritated and exhausted when he/she comes home the first variant will make him well-balanced and relaxed helping avoid conflicts in the family as well as at work or public places.

Relevance of the Solution

By applying this method people would not only save fuel which is wasted when standing in the traffic jam but save some nerves which these jams take as well. And if somebody would prefer spending an extra hour at work instead of in the traffic jam, it would necessarily result in better working skills and increased salary.

Mounting Navigation Systems

Another solution to the problem of traffic jams may be using the cars which are equipped with a navigation system or mounting this system into the cars which do not have it. Most of the new cars already have navigation systems and people who use them impart that they are much more convenient and beneficial, offering a number of advantages and making driving a car an absolute pleasure.

The benefit of the Navigation System

Navigation systems are used to get necessary traffic information and are very easy to apply practically: “The navigation system notifies the provider’s systems about an intended itinerary. Every time new traffic information becomes available, an SMS message is created automatically and distributed to all registered navigation systems that are impacted by the event. After receiving the SMS, the route can be adjusted accordingly” (Uwe Hansmann: 85). Such systems are irreplaceable assistants on the road since they are extremely reliable and provide the most updated information about the current situation on the roads exempting the driver from the necessity of using inconvenient maps which distract the attention from the road and do not in any way notify about traffic jams, roads being on repair or car accidents that may have occurred on the driver’s route.

Appropriateness of the Solution

Therefore, by using a navigation system the driver will not only be able to know precisely the place of his/her location in case he/she is lost but will be informed about the parts of the roads with traffic jams being able to avoid them.

Using Bicycles as Alternative Means of Transportation

And finally, choosing a bicycle instead of a car as a means of transportation will significantly reduce the number of traffic jams on the roads let alone the fact that it would greatly contribute to the world’s ardent fight against air pollution.

Bicycles and Traffic Jams

It is a well-known fact that most people in China have already realized that with such a dense population it would be impossible to get to any part of the city by means of cars and accepted an alternative means of transportation, namely bicycles. China just like other countries are preoccupied with the problem of traffic jams but those citizens who chose bicycles have already appropriately estimated their advantage on the roads and now they get to work much quicker than those who still prefer cars:” Along some sections noisy truck traffic is unavoidable, and when a truck or bus breaks down there are giant traffic jams. Fortunately, cyclists can continue past these jams by carefully weaving through stalled vehicles” (Roger Grigsby: 42). More and more people in China get convinced that “bike gives you the best way to get through traffic jams” (Dave Glowacz: 117) and while the others are nervously beeping, the person who uses the bicycle calmly passes by and gets to work in time.

Suitability of the Solution

Driving the bicycle the driver does not have to think about how much fuel he has left and where the nearest gas station is, nor needs he/she has to bother about a policeman stopping the bicycle for exceeding speed or overdue motor vehicle registration card. Regarding the bicycle as an alternative means of transportation, it would be fair to notice that using it instead of a car would be a proper solution to the problem of traffic jams.

Conclusion

Taking into consideration all the facts mentioned above, it can be stated that fighting with traffic jams is not only necessary but theoretically even possible. What it requires is just a mere understanding of people that they themselves are the main cause of emerging of traffic jams which is why namely they are responsible for fighting with this problem. Only cooperation and taking common measures would help implement the solutions to the problem of the traffic jam stated above. Being a responsible citizen means taking care of the welfare of the native country and the city the person lives in. Avoiding driving in the rush hours will not only help reduce the number of instances of traffic jams but a number of accidents as well; using a navigation system won’t let the driver get lost in the city and will inform about the possible traffic jams on the route and the ways to past them; and finally, using bicycles instead of the cars at least in half of the instances will considerably lessen the occurrences of traffic jams and help the world in its fight with pollution.

References

Justine Vaisutis. Indonesia. Lonely Planet, 2007.

Uwe Hansmann. Pervasive Computing: The Mobile World. Springer.

Roger Grigsby. China by Bike: Taiwan, Hong Kong, China’s East Coast. The Mountaineers Books, 1994.

Dave Glowacz. Urban Bikers’ Tricks & Tips: Low-Tech & No-Tech Ways to Find, Ride, & Keep a Bicycle. Wordspace Press, 2004.

Anthony Downs. Still Stuck in Traffic: Coping with Peak-hour Traffic Congestion. Brookings Institution Press, 2004.

Mehran Kamrava. The Modern Middle East: A Political History Since the First World War. University of California Press, 2005.

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