Natia Shakaia

Nowadays living in a world without any exhausts is a real luxury. Well it is definitely luxury as far as we all know that during last decades the unprecedented growth of cars and factories had a very negative impact on nature. Though it has many advantages as well like faster transporting and therefore easier life. However, it has too many downsides, for example the pollution of environment.

In the world’s metropolis traffic jam, which can last even hours, is a real problem. The question is, does the world need so many cars? For instance the population of Georgia, which is one of the smallest countries in the world, is nearly 3.5 million people. According to the statics there is too much cars in Tbilisi in the capital of Georgia. The redundant amount of car creates fumes that can cause damages for our health. Only solution to avoid such pollution is to move to outskirt of the city in the peaceful and greener area.

Above we were discussing a small country Georgia but what about biggest cities of the world such as New York, Beijing, Tokyo or many others, where the population and accordingly the pollution is much more. Imagine that one day of a very hot summer you are stuck in a long traffic jam (62 miles)…. The longest traffic jam in history with a huge car panorama that stretched for more than 62 miles and lasted for 12 days was reported in China in August 2010. This is the reason China was crowned the mother of all traffic jams.

Sadly traffic jams have a very negative impact on driver’s health. I found out that in there is a traffic jam stress syndrome. It is a disease that affects drivers and makes them feel scared whenever they’re stuck in slow traffic. As a result, some of them drive recklessly on the roads.

China traffic jam is a perfect example to understand how dangerous cars can be. According to statics China expects more than 7 million cars on the roads in the following years. About 14 million cars are purchased every year, while 650 000 vehicles meet the road every month. Chinese Government encourages people to buy fewer amounts of cars, which would save the country from pollution, but this attempt was almost useless. Well, it is obvious that every day Chinese people spend 2-3 hours in a traffic jams.

I reckon that the best solution for this problem is the development and improvement of public transport. The government should make metro and busses more comfortable. Especially the improvement of metro would have a positive impact on everyday life and it would considerably shorten the number of traffic jams and there will not be so much fumes which has a damaging impact on our health. My advice is to leave our cars at home at least once a week; it is up to us to live in a peaceful and in non-polluted area.

Natia Shakaia

Read this article in Georgian here.

The contents of this article are the sole responsibility of the author, and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of ALDA and the European Union.