Cars
are important vehicles that help
people
transport
themselves and their
goods
and
services
over long distances. It is true that
car
ownership
has increased rapidly over the past thirty years in many
cities
around the world
due to
social, economic, and political reasons.
Car
ownership
can be linked to social reasons as
people
are the ones with the skills to create and manage them. Studies show that humans are one of the few species whose
population
has increased exponentially over the past thirty years.
While
there is an option for carpooling,
people
want to grow independently from their families and friends so
this
desire will
increase
the demand for
cars
.
This
will undoubtedly lead to more
traffic
jams
in many
cities
, especially those with high
population
density.
For instance
,
cities
like Beijing and New Delhi are often reported on international news channels to have extraordinarily massive
traffic
jams
in recent years.
Another potential reason for the
increase
in
car
ownership
is the economic factor. The increasing human
population
is correlated with a rising level of economic activity.
People
need to provide various
goods
and
services
in order to make a living, some of which can rely solely on
cars
.
To begin
with, many rental
services
provide
cars
to
people
who cannot afford to purchase and only rent them for leisure purposes,
such
as Uber in North America. Another type of business involves
car
makers like Toyota and
with branches all over the world not only to provide
cars
to various communities.
Together with
improved channels of technology and communication, the high level of economic activities
furthermore
enables
people
to order
goods
and
services
over long distances, providing business to courier companies that specialise in delivery using
cars
. In many Asian countries, Foodpanda is a popular mobile delivery platform for food and home
goods
.
The final factor that influences
car
ownership
and
traffic
jams
is politics.
Governments
will encourage
people
to
increase
the local
population
and boost economic activity in their communities which increases
car
ownership
but they may not be able to keep up with the infrastructure to accommodate many
cars
.
Governments
want to
increase
the national GDP so they will neglect the educational and environmental concerns arising from
this
issue which inevitably leads to
traffic
jams
.
Governments
need to take some measures to dissuade them from using
cars
so much in order to solve
traffic
jams
. In the case of big
cities
with good infrastructure, the solution is to encourage
people
to opt for public
transport
. Taking Hong Kong
for instance
, the government has increased the
costs
for getting a driver's license and purchasing and maintaining
cars
as well as
charging
costs
for parking space. These
costs
are likely to convince
people
that public
transport
is more affordable and convenient, especially when other modes of
transport
such
as the subway and light rail can help them beat the concern of
traffic
. Another way
governments
can persuade
people
not to use
cars
is to build cycling paths and sidewalks that are more friendly for cycling and walking.
This
will not only reduce
traffic
jams
but
also
promote a healthy lifestyle as these other modes of transportation come with health benefits.
To conclude
,
car
ownershipsFix the agreement mistake
show examples
can lead to
traffic
jams
due to
various social, economic, and political reasons.
Governments
can provide both positive,
such
as cycling paths, and negative reinforcement,
such
as increasing
costs
for
car
ownership
, to solve the issue of
traffic
jams
.