THE TRANSPORT SCENE - PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS

The article contains the opening keynote address to the conference, "Transportation", organised by the American Institute of Transportation Engineers, held in London, August 1983. The speaker firstly reviewed the key roles of the transport and highway engineer in deciding upon the best use of available resources. He then examined the way in which road transport has become the dominant mode. Britain now has 80 vehicles per mile of road compared with 48 in France and 43 in the United States. Safety is the most unsatisfactory aspect of road transport: in Britain, one in 10000 of the population is killed on the roads each year and one in 5000 in the United States. Railways are the safest means of travel; travel by private car is 12 times less safe than travel by bus and three times less safe than scheduled airlines in terms of distances. Accidents could be reduced by eliminating known black spots; by improved vehicle design and by building more motorways where the accident rate is one tenth of the rate per vehicle mile on other roads. Traffic flows can be improved by the provision of highways controlled by advanced system geared to requirements. All services should be safe, reliable and available at tolerable prices. Good service is the responsibility of those providing it. There is much to be done on the maintenance and improvement of standards of the road system, in traffic management and in the improvement of the efficiency of all road vehicles. (TRRL)

• Availability:
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• Corporate Authors:

  INSTITUTION OF HIGHWAYS & TRANSPORTATION

  6 ENDSLEIGH STREET
  LONDON,   United Kingdom  WC1H 0DZ

  INSTITUTION OF HIGHWAYS & TRANSPORTATION

  6 ENDSLEIGH STREET
  LONDON,   United Kingdom  WC1H 0DZ
• Authors:
  • MASEFIELD, P
• Publication Date: 1983-11

Media Info

• Pagination: p. 22-28
• Serial:
  • HIGHWAYS & TRANSPORTATION
  • Volume: 30
  • Issue Number: 11
  • Publisher: INSTITUTION OF HIGHWAYS & TRANSPORTATION
  • ISSN: 0265-6868

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Automobile ownership; Conferences; Costs; Crash rates; Crashes; Economic efficiency; Highways; Level of service; Motor vehicles; Ownership; Prevention; Public transit; Railroad transportation; Railroads; Safety; Traffic control; Traffic engineering; Transportation; Vehicle design; Vehicles
• Uncontrolled Terms: Efficiency
• Geographic Terms: United Kingdom
• ITRD Terms: 1643: Accident; 1661: Accident prevention; 8525: Conference; 224: Cost; 5911: Efficiency; 2755: Highway; 653: Level of service; 744: Public transport; 1173: Rail bound transport; 1665: Safety; 654: Traffic control; 655: Traffic engineering; 1155: Transport; 8119: United Kingdom; 1255: Vehicle; 315: Vehicle ownership
• Subject Areas: Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting; Safety and Human Factors; Transportation (General); Vehicles and Equipment; I70: Traffic and Transport; I80: Accident Studies; I90: Vehicles;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00384606
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
• Files: ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: May 30 1984 12:00AM