Top Ten Cities With the World's Worst Traffic
Many ofus start the day by commuting,or traveling, to work. We drive our children to school.
We may visit the doctor or go tothe market to buy food. We rushhome to see our families.
Life is more pleasant when these trips are easy anddirect.The easier commuting,the higher your quality of life is.
Being stuck in traffic isnot easy or direct. Traffic delayscan be stressful.
They bring outthe worst in some people.
Traffic delays alsoreduce your quality of life.And some areas are worse than others.
Three ofthe ten worst cities for traffic arein Southeast Asia.
People who live in big cities spend a lot of time talking about traffic.
Too manypeople onthe roads can be a big problem.
Not all traffic isthe same.There are some terms you need to know whentalking about traffic.
One such term is gridlock. Gridlock is when nobody can go anywhere.
The roads become one big parking lot.
There is also stop-and-start traffic.This is when you move forward a little, butthen stop. Move a little. Then stop. Both are equally stressful.
Traffic can be bumper-to-bumper.This means there are so many cars onthe road that their bumpers seem tobe touching.
To idle means the engine ofyour car is running, but you arenot moving … anywhere.
Another term to know is rush hour traffic.
Rush hour traffic happens at aboutthe same time every day – when people are commuting toand from work.
But who inthe world has the worst traffic?
In 2014,the Castrol Magnatec Stop-Start Index examined traffic conditions in78 cities around the world.
Drivers in these areas used TomTom GPS devices. Each device measured the time spent in traffic andthe traffic conditions they experienced.
Castrol isan oil company based in the United Kingdom.The company says allthis stop-start driving and idling hurts your car engine.And to help, it wants tosell you Castrol products.
The study found an increase in both heavy traffic and stop-and-start driving.
Here arethe results.
The top 10 cities with the worst traffic are:
10. Buenos Aires, Argentina
9. Guadalajara, Mexico
8. Bangkok, Thailand
7. Rome, Italy
6. Moscow, Russia
5. St. Petersburg, Russia
4. Surabaya, Indonesia
3. Mexico City, Mexico
2. Istanbul, Turkey
And coming inat number one with the worst traffic onthe planet is …
1. Jakarta, Indonesia
In China,Shanghai’s traffic problems were found tobe worse than Beijing’s driversin Shanghai spend 33 percent of their time onthe road idling. People in Beijing spend 27 percent of their travel time idling, doing nothing but runningtheir engine and wasting fuel.
Let us now take a closer look atthe city with the worst traffic inthe world Jakarta.
Jakarta’s metropolitan area is home to about 24 million people.But only 13 percent of all trips areon public transportation.
Investment in public transport inthe Indonesian capital began in2004.Workers are building the first part ofa public transport system,
known as the Mass Rapid Transit railway.
Jakarta officials have also banned motorcycles fromthe main roads in the city.
Until cities with traffic problems find ways to get people from Point Ato Point Bmore efficiently,
they can only envy people in Tampere, Finland andRotterdam, in the Netherlands.The survey found that these two cities havethe fastest moving traffic.
VOCABULARY:
commute – v. to travel regularly toand froma place and especially betweenwhere you live and where you work
rush – v. to move or do something very quickly orin a way that shows youare in a hurry
congested/congestion – adj. when talking about traffic, too many cars ontheroad
gridlock – n. a situation in which streets are so full that vehicles cannot
parking lot – n. an area outside a building for parking cars, trucks, etc.
bumper-to-bumper – adj. made up of long lines of cars thatare very closetogether
idle – v. ofan engine or vehicle :to run without being connected for doinguseful work
rush hour – n. a time during the day early inthe morning or late in theafternoon when many people are traveling on roads to get to work orto gethome from work
envy – v. to feel a desire to have what someone else has n. the feeling ofwanting to have what someone else has.
Source: http://learningenglish.voanews.com/content/top-ten-cities-for-worst-traffic-jakarta-istabul-gridlock-stress-public-transportation/2665040.html
Image: http://gdb.voanews.com/A2A47D06-B34E-45A7-A80B-121F16D985EF_w640_r1_s_cx0_cy4_cw0.jpg
QUESTIONS:
1. Describethe traffic situation in your city.
2. What doyou do to keep from getting stressed because of traffic?
3. Would yougive up the comfort of driving your own car to lessen traffic?
4. What toyou is the most effective way of lessening traffic?
