No Friends? Blame the Traffic
bristol |
transport |
news report
Friday September 19, 2008 09:44
by Joshua Hart - UWE
velorution at yahoo dot com
New research shows that friendships on busy streets are cut by more than 75 percent
People living on streets with heavy motor vehicle traffic are experiencing a considerable deterioration of their local social lives according to Joshua Hart, a researcher from the University of the West of England. Results suggest that residents on busy streets have less than one quarter the number of local friends compared to those living on similar streets with little traffic.
Communities Disrupted by Auto Traffic in Bristol: Lines show social connections between houses
People living on streets with heavy motor vehicle traffic are experiencing a considerable deterioration of their local social lives according to Joshua Hart, a researcher from the University of the West of England. Results suggest that residents on busy streets have less than one quarter the number of local friends compared to those living on similar streets with little traffic.
The study looked at three streets in north Bristol with light, medium and heavy traffic respectively. It found that motor traffic, which has grown more than tenfold in the UK since 19501, has a considerable negative impact on quality of life, particularly for residents living beside heavy motor traffic flows. “Traffic is like a mountain range, cutting you off” said one man on the heavy traffic street, Muller Road, where over 20,000 cars drive by his house every day.
Interviews with residents indicate that growing motor traffic has forced people to make major adjustments in their lives, to shield against the nearly constant noise, pollution, dust and danger outside their front doors. Many residents revealed that they experience sleep disturbances, no longer spend time in the front of their homes, and curtail the independence of their children in response to motor traffic. “Our 4-year-old girl has a constant cough and we limit the amount of time she spends outside…we’re constantly breathing in pollution,” said one father.
This research, carried out as part of a Transport Planning MSc, confirms for the first time in the UK the results of a 1969 San Francisco study by Professor Donald Appleyard2, who also found deterioration of community on busy streets.
With an additional 5.7 million cars expected on the UK’s roads by 2031 (a growth of 21%)3, these findings point to an urgent need for the Government to provide healthy residential environments and stem traffic growth by investing in public transport, walking and cycling in order to avoid many more local communities being impacted. Joshua Hart concludes, “This study shows that the deterioration of neighbouring in this country may well be down to our own travel habits. We created this problem, and now we have a responsibility to solve it.”
"Our 4-year old girl has a constant cough and we limit the amount of time she spends outside... we're constantly breathing in pollution" -Muller Rd. resident, 20,000 cars/ day
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Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7Thanks Josh and well done
This is such thought-provoking stuff. The link between friendship, quality of life and traffic is so obvious when you say it, but the clarity of your research and the poignancy of the personal statements make this compelling. We cannot ignore this.
Jon
Good stuff - more evidence that things need to change.
Although...... Bradley Stoke? Quiet streets but I doubt anyone even looks at each other up there, let alone talks! :-)
Good work Josh. Though i'm not convinced there will be that many new cars on the roads given rising oil prices. Like the population growth forcasts (9 Billion), these seem to be based on the whako theory of limitles growth and limitless resources.
I'm going to the West of England Partnership's Transport Forum soon. Should I try to use this there? What else should I do? Is there any point trying to influence WEP?
I'll try to check back here Thursday night for comments. Thanks for any pointers.
Yes, thank-you Josh for challenging mass car-use and showing how we are allowing the car to ruin all our lives.
Yet more evidence to back UCL’s Prof John Adams work on excessive mobility and the social breakdown it causes, which impacts especially badly on the poor.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypermobility_(travel)
Try again - this is Wikipedia's blue-arsed fly link
No no no you just don't get it do you!
More cars, more roads, it's all progress. The way to the New Atlantis, the Brave New World, the wonderful Utopia, the Pie in the Sky, the Jam Tomorrow of human perfectibility. You'll love it, really you will.