Quote Originally Posted by ChinaV View Post
Too often we blame the drivers, but at least half the problem is poor city planning and traffic light management. 4 way intersections with 180 second light cycles is bound to cause road rage in any society.

The sad part to all this is that it's not going to get better before it gets much, much worse. I've been out to dinner twice in the last 6 months as I simply can't stomach the 30 minutes it now takes to drive downtown and finding a parking spot. Routine 10 minute trips 5 years ago now exceed half an hour and sometimes can take over an hour at peak times.

2005 Trip to my favourite noodle restaurant = 7 kilometres / 3 traffic lights / 10-15 minutes
2013 Trip to my favourite noodle restaurant = 7 kilometres / 11 traffic lights / 30-45 minutes + mandatory parking fees since there are only 2000 parking spots for the 162,000 cars in my city. People walk in the middle of the street through the gridlocked traffic because all the sidewalks are filled with parked cars.



A friend of mine bought a car 3 years ago and never put the plates on it. 85,000 kilometres later he has never been stopped and has no tickets

Cheers!
ChinaV
Same deal in my ex small town in China.It used to take me 15-20 minutes(a few years ago) to visit mother in law now it is a good half hour then you have to find somewhere to park which can take another 10-15 minutes.I say to all the people who are going for their car license and hit there goal of car ownership where are you going to park your new found so called freedom I am met with a look of disbelief when I ask them how many other people where going for there license and were they going to buy a car.

Funny enough in my small town in OZ the council provide free parking for motorcycles and charge for cars.They are extremely motorcycle friendly here at least once a night I will see the advertisement on TV for car drivers to watch out for motorcycles on the roads.

10% of the population here would own a motorcycle of some description.