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The M1, our first and most famous motorway, is about to reach its 50th birthday. Designed to cope with 13,000 vehicles a day, it reached that capacity almost straight away, but that's nothing, during 2009 volumes on the motorway have been more like 10 times that figure.
That's a familiar story on roads up and down the country with the average British commuter spending 91 days of their working life stuck in traffic. This year the prospect of school half-term in England and Wales came with warnings of thousands of drivers causing traffic jams as families took to the roads, especially on Fridays as they get away from home for a short break.
Faced with congestion, some drivers sit and suffer, while others are turning to alternatives in a quest to beat the queues. Many of these people are taking up cycling, especially in the bigger cities where travelling a small distance by car can take an age at rush hour.
However, as an avid cyclist myself I was a bit perturbed to learn that 820 cyclists died or were badly hurt between April and June this year. The figures released by the Department for Transport show a significant increase (more than 234 incidents) versus the same period last year.
Most drivers will testify that cyclists can be hard to spot, especially if they aren't using the right lights and clothing, and especially at this time of year when we are often driving in the dark. Safety experts believe that the rise in accidents is a reaction to increased fuel prices and concern about carbon emissions as more people get on their bikes. However, increasing volumes of traffic must also add to their risk.
At a time when its getting darker, the weather is worstening and driving conditions are not at their best drivers should be looking out for other road users and cyclists must take responsibility for their safety. Being a novice cylcist is no excuse for being a danger and just because you don't need a license to ride one, road safety is just as important on a bike as it is in a car.
The irony is that we need more people to take up cycling to ease congestion and reduce CO2 emissions. However, as more people shift to two wheels, road users need to play their part, and that means understanding and sticking to the rules of the road, taking a common sense approach, and being aware of others.
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