The UK is among the most congested countries in the world, with a reported 37.5 million vehicles registered for use on roads last year – a new report, by ATG Access, reveals that almost two-thirds (65%) of city dwellers are frustrated with the levels of congestion in their city
The study, conducted as part of ATG’s ‘Smart cities: Turning the dream into a reality’ report, outlines the urbanisation problems that could be solved through the adoption of specific smart city concepts, such as traffic, crime and emergency incident response.
The research goes on to explore city dwellers attitudes and perceptions towards smart cities, and ways to overcome current barriers to adoption in the UK.
Londoners were the most frustrated with traffic levels (76%), followed by city dwellers of the South East (74%) and the South West (68%).
The study also looked at the range of solutions which could combat the issue and found that Brits think that smart city measures would be the most effective in improving traffic flow and commuter time (74%).
Three quarters (75%) of those surveyed would like to see the implementation of smart traffic lights to respond in real-time to the volume of traffic on the roads, while just over two-thirds (67%) expressed a strong desire for better traffic light control measures during busier times – indicating a clear need for the UK’s urban infrastructure to evolve to better meet the needs of the modern commuter.
Traditional methods of easing traffic flow scored lowest among consumers with just 37% of those surveyed wanting to see more parking restrictions on busy roads and 40% wanting dedicated cycling and bus lanes during busy times.
Further demonstrating the public’s appetite for investment in smart measures, over half (57%) of those surveyed admitted that they would be happy for a portion of their tax contributions to go towards smart traffic lights in their city.
Gavin Hepburn, managing director at ATG Access, the world’s leading innovator of road blocker, bollards and vehicle barrier systems, commented: “Our research has found a clear public desire for smart traffic control measures, which could ease the daily commute for millions of travellers every day.
“Smart city concepts such as responsive traffic flow measures – ranging from smart traffic lights, to programmable smart bollard systems which control traffic – can drive efficiency and drastically cut commuter times. Not only does this have the potential to save the economy £9bn a year, measures such as these can also dramatically improve a cities’ level of air quality.”
