Speed cameras do cause jamswww.guardian.co.uk-transport-Story-0,2763,1436617,00.html Mark Townsend, transport correspondent Sunday March 13, 2005 The Observer Speed cameras are a key contributor to Britain's traffic congestion problems and the technology to replace them...
The point is not "if there were no roads at all" but the fact that the roads that are there are there!
If the motorway wasn't there, I probably wouldn't have made the journey at all; the reason being that the office I was heading to would not have been built there if there weren't easy access to the motorway.
More generally, it's the concept that motorways and other good transportation links bring in more businesses to the area, and create more traffic. People make journeys they wouldn't have made before (I know someone who used to commute from Guildford to Thurrock every day - a complete impossibility without the M25). Less extreme, many people now commute from A to B every day because they can, often taking in short stretches of motorway. So, now so many people make journeys because the road is there, removing it (or the ability to use that road) is a bit like amputating your leg because of an ingrowing toenail (sorry if that's a crap analogy). We are where we are; it's going to need more subtle approaches to change things, and not one that means thousands and thousands of people need to move house or jobs all at once.
