Too Many Vehicles ( empathizing and its solutions )

   Hi hi back with me again and still with the same topic, which is *drumroll* TOO MANY VEHICLES! Well this topic is not going to end until the end of the semester, so please, bear with me. Basically this time im going to list down some related references and state some solutions which already being made in order to fix this major problem. But first let me recap something from the previous post.

     Too-many-vehicles has been a major problem in many places in the world. Just like every problem, people are getting disadvantaged by it. Especially for people who urgently need to go somewhere quickly, or for working people in working hours, or anyone who get jammed not because of some accident reasons, but simply because there are too many cars. It is not like we can blame anyone since we all need vehicles to go on a longer distance, and not to mention the overpopulation itself, but it is best if we try our best to fight this problem together. Here are some references about related problem and its solutions,

Websites :

'How to Avoid Contributing to Traffic Congestion'. WikiHow. Last revised 13 Jan 2015. Accessed 27 Jan 2015 <http://www.wikihow.com/Avoid-Contributing-to-Traffic-Congestion>

Some ways to fight too-many-cars-problem or simply avoid contributing to it are stated such as use mass transit, try active transportation, combine active transportation and mass transit, pay attention if you are driving and not doing distracting things such as texting, calling, applying make up, etc.

Durden, Tyler. 'Where the World's Unsold Cars Go To Die'. Zero Hedge. 17 May 2014. Accessed 27 Jan 2015.<http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-05-16/where-worlds-unsold-cars-go-die>

This article gave me enlightenment about the true problem and visualization of the real amount of car we have to worry about. It is true that unused car wont make traffic jam, but is it really okay to pile up that much cars and keep on producing more and more cars? It is really shocking how the supposedly-luxury-things can be abandoned just like that because it is obviously way out of demand.

Magazines :

Gracelyn. 'Too Many Cars'. Trinidad Express Newspapers. 1 Oct 2013. Accessed 27 Jan 2015.<

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/business-magazine/Too-many-cars-226076551.html>

This article basically reviewing in detail about too many vehicles and its effects on the surroundings.

Thompson, Derek, and Weismann, Jordan. 'The Cheapest Generation'. The Atlantic. 22 Aug 2012. Accessed 27 Jan 2015.
<http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/09/the-cheapest-generation/309060/>

Unlike other article, this passage focus more on how young generation buy vehicle less than its predecessors, leaving freshly made cars hanging untouched while car companies keep producing its product until no space left to store them.

Books :

Downs, Anthony. 'Still Stuck in Traffic'. Coping with Peak-Hour Traffic Congestion. Washington DC : Brookings Institution Press, 2004.

Anthony Downs conveys his research that too many vehicles are does not always carry a negative sign, but it also shows economic prosperity. And traffic jams because of too many cars are inevitable especially during peak hours. However, there are still possible improvements government could make, such as creating High Occupancy Toll lanes, adding more roads in growing areas, install a ramp metering and many more. He also provides many supporting scientific data.





Bull, Alberto. 'Traffic Congestion'. The Problem and How to Deal with it. Chile : United Nations Publication, Jan 2004.

This is an academic book about traffic congestion, what causes it, and what can be done about it with more details and statistics. It is indeed more to traffic than to the existence of too many vehicles, but it is very related since too many vehicles cause traffic and its solutions are pretty much the same as well.

EMPATHIZING (Too Many Vehicles !)

     It has been months since the previous blog, I know, but I am back right now with the new year spirit and also new blog contents. Because I have passed my Critical Thinking class already and right now doing my Design Process which actually kind of the same so, yeah.

     This week topic is TOO MANY VEHICLES. Actually we got to choose our own topic but we ( my group mate and I ) chose this one. I think too many vehicles is a very common problem especially in a big and overpopulated country or place. 

                                 

     According to the 2011 World Bank Data the country with most vehicles ( not including the motorcycles ) per 1000 person is San Marino with 1263 motor vehicles, while Singapore at its 93th place with 149 motor vehicles. Here is the vehicles world map in 2011. The darkest green indicating the most vehicles and vice versa.

     Too many vehicles can cause a serious traffic jam, even when there are no accident, bad weather, bottlenecks etc. When they are being added up altogether then it will be a massive wave of standstill cars.

                      

     It is explained precisely by Japanese scientist after doing their research on 2008, putting 22 cars on a circular track and told them to maintain a constant 30 km/h speed. The drivers managed to maintain their speed for a while, until a tiny human error occurred and led to huge differences which disturbed the car free flow. Prof Sugiyama concluded that the behavior emerging in the research is just the same on the real road and highways. When the car entering are beyond the road capacity, then the free flow will become unstable. Here is the video of the research. 

                   

     Personally I dont like traffic jam, and I also never met any person who does. Spending hours uselessly waiting when you can use it for something much better. However we cannot only complaining without any practical actions. We have to start from ourself, walking and cycling, or using public transportation for a further destination.

     It is more convenient to use our private car, indeed, and it is a lot safer as well especially in a developing country with a high rate crimes. Of course, we have to put our safety first, but we have to start thinking about our surrounding as well, since using more vehicles also means more pollution and not really earth friendly. Too many vehicles also caused chaos that can lead to accident.

     It actually speaks for myself as well, since very often I am also lazy to walk even to the shortest destination. So lets us together change our way of living, walk and cycle more, be healthy and also make our surroundings a better place! :)

                                     

References :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_vehicles_per_capita

http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IS.VEH.NVEH.P3http://www.theurbancountry.com/2012/10/cause-of-road-congestion-too-many.html

http://www.boston.com/real-estate/news/2014/12/04/scientists-show-how-too-many-cars-lead-spontaneous-traffic-jams/8lxsTvb73eEhqrKPYF2cJI/story.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/3334754/Too-many-cars-cause-traffic-jams.html

http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn13402

http://www.chowrangi.pk/what-traffic-jams-can-do-to-you.html