When it comes to motoring innovation, the government of the United Kingdom arent exactly known as leaders in the field or even notable innovators. Im not talking about cars or the technology contained within them – after all, our government does not make cars, but Im referring more to the road infrastructure.
To be honest, you would be lucky to find roads that were for the most part in a good enough condition to make driving acceptable without fear of blowing tyres, damaging suspension or making your teeth chatter within your jaws!
OK, so maybe Im being a tad melodramatic here, but you would have to agree that our road infrastructure leaves a lot to be desired on the whole! Anyway, enough of me ranting, here are some awesome ideas I think the government, local authorities and the Highways Agency should implement to make the cost of motoring to the general public more bearable!
Heated roads
When the roads start to get icy or it starts to snow outside, you would normally see gritting trucks in action spreading salt across the roads on most major routes. But the problem with this is salt needs to be constantly spread when the weather gets really bad due to the thousands of vehicles that travel on the roads and embed some of that salt within their tyres.
Local authorities and the Highways Agency sadly dont have unlimited budgets for salt spreading, so a lot of the time major roads and motorways end up full of motorists driving at a snails pace because the road surface has turned into an ice rink!
An alternative would be to build roads which could heat up from underneath the tarmac and prevent any falling snow from settling and creating a slippery and icy surface. There are many countries around the world that use technology to heat roads up, ranging from solar powered systems to ones which use liquid heated up in tubes underneath the road surface.
LED traffic lights
Although you might spot some LED traffic lights where you live, the majority of traffic lights use incandescent bulbs which are not only inefficient and have a short lifespan, but they arent as bright as LED lights.
LED lights cost less when in use, are very efficient and promote safer driver – especially when there is poor visibility due to fog, for example.
Clearer lane markings
The problem with motorists in Britain is that many of them do not have good lane discipline. For example, if you are driving around a roundabout you will often experience people randomly driving into your lane because they have poor lane control (or just dont know how to drive properly in general). Until such a time as when all drivers practice correct lane discipline, lane markings can serve to correctly guide motorists.
Make public transport free for British citizens
As suggested by Pinetree Cars Wales, making buses, trams and trains free for all British citizens will encourage greater usage of public transport networks, thus reducing congestion on all major routes throughout the United Kingdom.
The government could charge non-residents such as tourists for using public transport, and that money could be used towards paying for the system.
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