Increasing the price of petrol is the best way to solve growing traffic and pollution problems. To what extent do you agree or disagree? What other measures do you think might be effective?

There is no doubt that

traffic

and

pollution

from vehicles have become huge problems, both in cities and on motorways everywhere. Solving these problems is likely to need more than a simple rise in the price of petrol.

While

it is undeniable that private car

use

is one of the main causes of the increase in

traffic

and

pollution

, higher fuel costs are unlikely to limit the number of drivers for long. As

this

policy would

also

affect the cost of public transport, it would be very unpopular with everyone who needs to travel on the roads. But there are various other measures that could be implemented that would have a huge effect on these problems. I think to tackle the problem of

pollution

, cleaner fuels need to be developed. The technology is already available to produce electric cars that would be both quieter and cleaner to

use

Persuading manufacturers and travellers to adopt

this

new technology would be a more effective strategy for improving air quality, especially in cities.

However

,

traffic

congestion will not be solved by changing the type of private: vehicle people can

use

. To do

this

, we need to improve the choice of public transport services available to travellers.

For example

, if sufficient sky trains and underground train systems were built and effectively maintained in our major cities,

then

traffic

on the roads would be dramatically reduced. Long-distance train and coach services should be made attractive and affordable alternatives to driving your own car for long journeys, In conclusion, I think that long-term

traffic

and

pollution

reductions would depend on educating the public to

use

public transport more and on governments using public money to construct and run efficient systems.