Cost of traffic congestion can't be ignored, agrees Constable

Concerns raised by a St Sampson's Douzenier that traffic congestion is costing the island nearly £40m a year have been endorsed by the Vale's Senior Constable.

An examination of vehicle numbers, transport expenses and the cost of congestion led Rob Gill, pictured above, to conclude that the island was losing £38m a year in lost productivity.

In turn, that was impacting on consumers as they were paying for tradespeople and delivery staff because a 10 minute journey was taking 15 minutes or longer.

Vain hopes
Mr Gill, who studied traffic management in America and the UK, also noted: 'Our government has no plans to address this. Current policy is to vainly hope we abandon our vehicles to ride the bus or get on our bike. Impractical for average road users and impossible for most commercial vehicles.'

Vale Constable Richard Leale said the comments, in the Guernsey Press, made a great deal of sense and he concurred with them.

'I am grateful to Mr Gill for raising these issues of mutual parish relevance and for highlighting the link between traffic congestion and lost productivity. I also agree with him that the authorities seem to ignore this while pursuing what many see as anti-car policies.'

He hoped the States in general and Environment and Infrastructure in particular would pay attention to Mr Gill's comments. 

Quote from Rob Gill's Guernsey Press article