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Opinion & Editorials

Increased traffic severity

By Rajdeep on 04 Aug 2025

Traffic jams have indeed become an important problem in many parts of the world, affecting millions of people every day. There are many reasons for this problem, especially with the increase in urban population. Along with the increase in population, the number of cars on the roads has also increased. Today, far more people own their own cars than ever before, allowing for rising incomes, urbanization and personal transportation. Due to the poor state of mass transit in many places, when buses, trains, etc. are incredibly crowded, or not available at all, people prefer to go by their own cars. That causes more cars to block the roads, slowing down buses or trucks. Cities designed several decades ago were often not built to handle this volume of cars, creating narrow roads. Therefore, narrow roads cannot hold the crowd of passengers during rush hour. In addition, road construction exacerbates the problem of traffic jams. Such works often reduce roads or block roads entirely, making the road narrower for vehicular traffic. Bad weather such as rain, snow, or fog causes accidents which is another cause of traffic jams. One small accident can cause miles of traffic jams in a matter of minutes. The result of many people trying to use the same road at the same time is traffic congestion problems (e.g. morning and evening hours). Being stuck in a jam results in increased fuel consumption, higher emissions, and poorer air quality as the engine idles. Some studies have linked pollution from traffic to health problems like asthma or heart disease, especially in dense urban areas. Being stuck in traffic jams for long periods of time also increases stress levels. Some cities have measures such as congestion pricing, or Metro, as a way to solve this problem. To get some distance from such problems, technologies like real-time traffic apps help drivers avoid the worst, i.e., places with high traffic congestion. And this is copied