SHE SAYS ...

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33626, 30 August 1974, Page 4

SHE SAYS ...

Harried mothers all over the town look in desperation at their restless (if not squabbling) youngsters look at the grey skies outside, pile everyone into the family car. and head off to the city — and the school holidays have started again. And once they get to the city they find queues stretching for hundreds of yards outside the parking buildings — which are not adequate even in non-holiday times — the roads choked with other mothers driving around, and around, and around looking for a parking space, and what’s left of the traffic routes turned into a very narrow slalom course by the doubleparked trucks, not to mention a good number of double-parked cars as well. This lemming-like migration into the heart of the traffic jams happens every

school holidays, getting a little more hectic and uncontrolled each time. The suburban and out-of-town centres get their share of traffic, of course, but I’m sure most of the “migrating mums” would find it easier to concentrate more on such areas and less on the town itself. The chaotic nature of the traffic’s worth noting, because it seems to me that with the natural growth in traffic each year, that’s the sort of situation we can expect every day before long unless the pace of road and traffic planning is not only maintained, but increased. It makes me feel that quite a few more traffic officers are needed in the central city area, too, if only to keep the doubleparkers on the move, and discourage the “lightbeaters.” Meanwhile, if you really must go to town in the next couple of weeks, plan for delays, prepare to be patient, and consider the wisdom of taking the bus, or parking on the outskirts and walking into the centre rather than wasting time, petrol and road-space trying to get a park right outside the shop you’re heading for.