The roads in Britain are so congested that it makes us unhealthy and lonely.

A new study has found that Britain’s congested roads are damaging the lives and health of millions of people as they act as physical barriers to the movement of local residents.

According to a study by University College London, locals can’t cross roads that are either congested or made dangerous by high-speed traffic, but simply shy away from making quick trips to nearby shops, friends or convenience.

Or they make the problem worse by getting into their car.

Researchers have found that every year a billion walks and bike rides are canceled because people can’t use public transport – that’s 20 “lost” rides per person per year.

About 135 million of these trips will be replaced by car trips, 90 million by public transport, and 775 million trips will be “repressed – trips that people want to take but ultimately don’t do due to fear and the inconvenience of traffic.” the study said. Found.

“Britain has a serious problem with congested roads, which is seriously affecting the mental and physical health of people across the country,” said Paulo Ancias of University College London, lead researcher. I.

“It is likely that the quality of life of millions of people in the UK has been affected to a greater or lesser degree by living next to a busy road – with cars speeding or in traffic jams – and the problem seems to be getting worse.”

The report, published in the magazine, says the country’s poorest people, who are most likely to live near a busy road, are the hardest hit, as well as children and people with physical disabilities, such as the elderly and the disabled. traffic researchfinds.

This means that millions of Britons could be missing out on valuable exercise and the benefits of being outdoors and socializing at the expense of their health and well-being.

In addition, shops and other local businesses are suffering from a dwindling customer base as roads make access difficult.

Overall, the report, which includes a survey of a representative sample of 3,038 British adults, estimates that busy roads cost communities across the UK £3.2bn a year, or £64 per person, due to decrease in income of nearby enterprises. .

Charles Musselwhite, Aberystwyth University Professor and Editor-in-Chief Journal for transport and healthnotes that “we have taken over cars, vans and trucks” leading to “a spiral of decline in communities where people don’t know each other.”

“The more traffic in an area, the less likely we are to be able to walk or cycle around the area, and this reduces our ability to recognize our neighbors. and the less we know our neighbors, the less community we have,” he said.

About 35 per cent of those surveyed for the UCL report, representing 17.7 million British adults, said they live near a busy road. And a quarter – that’s 12.6 million British adults – said they lived next to a busy road.

“It’s absolutely terrible”

Allison Pepper lives off the busy A540 Chester High Road, near the town of Neston in Cheshire.
This makes her family’s life much more difficult than it should be when her kids go to the local high school and just walk the dog.

“We live at a crossroads not far from the main road, and to get to school, the children have to walk along a very busy road, next to which there is a large distribution center, so huge trucks pass by,” says Ms. Pepper. who turns out to be a car accident lawyer.

“To get to the local high school, you need to walk on a very narrow sidewalk, and then try to cross the intersection. I can tell you that it is scary to cross this intersection by car in the morning and after school, not to mention a pedestrian.

“We’re probably less than a mile from the school, but this is taking a lot longer than it should. They either get on the bus, which means they go in reverse, and I bring them back to the nearest village where they can move forward.”

“Or they can walk twice as far to take safer routes and avoid crossing a busy intersection and the road itself. It’s really all a bit of a cracker. And I stopped walking my dog ​​there because it’s awful.

“Traffic volume tends to be inversely proportional to speed due to congestion,” the doctor said. antitions. “It means that the problem ends up affecting all kinds of areas, but in different ways.

“In cities, congestion is a problem, as reported by 41% of residents, and in London by 45%. And in rural areas, the problem is the speed of movement – 33 percent in the villages and 39 percent in the villages say they are fast.”

According to Ancias, DR Finchley Road in north London, between Swiss Cottage and Finchley Road, is one of the biggest offenders when it comes to blocking residents.

“For decades, this has been a major barrier to migration. We spoke with local residents – many said they were afraid to cross Finchley Road and avoided entering the area across the road out of fear, ”he said.

“One resident, a 60-year-old woman, told us: “Finchley Road is just a big nuisance, the traffic is very heavy – buses, buses and trucks. It’s not about speed as such, sometimes there are too many traffic jams for someone to hurry – this is a stream of cars, constant, non-stop, and you don’t want to breathe the air, it is so saturated with exhaust gases.

“The likelihood of living near a perceived high speed street decreases almost linearly with income. And the problem seems to be getting worse in the UK as traffic continues to increase. This is mainly due to the increase in light truck traffic.”

Experts welcome the report. Dr. Stephen Watkins, former Director of Public Health at Stockport and Chairman of the Transportation Science and Health Group, said: “Vibrant local communities are vital to the health of city dwellers, and the busy main road that runs through them is a major hindrance. .

Tanya Brown, director of policy and communications for Living Streets, a UK-based daily walking charity, said: “The lack of suitable intersections is a real barrier to people on the move. We need a lot more measures that protect pedestrians and encourage them to walk.”

Adrian Davies, professor of transport and health at Edinburgh Napier University, said the study shows the “barrier effect” of busy roads.

“The only way to solve this problem is to reduce the amount of motorized private transport,” he said. “Redistribute road space for quality public transport, as well as walking and cycling.”

Not that everyone succumbs to traffic. Dr. Ancias points to an extreme case that made headlines a few years ago in an 89-year-old Dorset woman who was partially blind and walked with a frame.

For her, going to the post office or any store she could see from her house across a busy street meant a 90-minute round trip—a bus ride to the nearest pedestrian crossing five kilometers away and back.