Illness and accidents caused by traffic jams cost £40bn (From The Northern Echo)

Illness and accidents caused by traffic jams cost £40bn

8:24am Monday 15th March 2010 in

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WORKERS must be forced to pay to park in the region’s big cities to end the congestion nightmare, a Government study has warned.

The report, which put the cost of delays, illness and accidents caused by traffic jams at £40bn a year, suggested an end to free parking in order to get motorists off choked roads.

It said there was no such thing as free parking because it has hidden costs, paid by people using public transport – describing it as “a subsidy from non-car drivers to car drivers”.

And it concluded: “Restricting parking supply could have a substantial impact on traffic – if there is nowhere to park, many journeys by car could not occur.”

The study – by Gordon Brown’s strategy unit – details how the dominance of the car poses big challenges for the North-East’s big urban centres of Tyne and Wear and Teesside.

It reports that traffic speeds across Teesside plunge by 16 per cent during the morning and evening rush hours – some of the worst traffic jams anywhere in England. Meanwhile, about 80 per cent of journeys in Newcastle are by car, compared with far lower proportions in other European cities such as Barcelona (75 per cent), Munich (65 per cent) and Lisbon (60 per cent).

Furthermore, the study came as a separate report, by the Commons transport committee, condemned the G o v e r n m e n t ’ s failure to put together coherent policies, outside the capital.

Led by Labour MP Louise Ellman, the committee concluded: “Integrated transport remains an elusive objective outside London.

“The Government must take some hard decisions about managing demand for road use. If it does not, the economy, environment and public finances will suffer.”

The conclusions follow the collapse of Government plans to persuade 20 towns and cities to bring in congestion charging, in the wake of a decisive “No” vote in Manchester, in December 2008. Two weeks ago, ministers admitted defeat, slipping out an announcement that councils would no longer be required to introduce road tolls in order to grab a slice of a “congestion- busting” fund.

But the first study, called The Future of Urban Transport – while concluding road tolls were a better option – pointed to an end to free parking as an alternative.

While admitting implementing charges could be difficult, the study said: “Free parking is, in fact, a cost paid by those who do not drive.

“This is economically inefficient and inequitable.”

A spokesman for the Department for Transport said the study was not Government policy, adding: “The introduction of any form of congestion charging is entirely a matter for local authorities.”