I don’t often drive to London or the South-east, but I had to travel to Hastings recently.
We came in on the M3 onto the M25 and down the A21. There were traffic jams on all these roads, sometimes over twenty minutes long. Once in Hastings, we navigated around the city at a crawl. On the way home, we paid close attention to the traffic news.
A crane broke down in the anti-clockwise carriageway just north of the M3. Traffic was at a standstill in all three lanes, and eventually the gridlock seemed to stretch all the way up to the M1. Luckily, we were on the other side, and it only took us four hours to win clear of the congestion.
While on the M25, all we could see in front of us was row upon row of tail lights, four cars wide, stretching to the horizon. From the side, more vehicles edged into this choking stream. Lanes full of cars trying to leave lined the slip roads. Lorries, run out of legal driving time, were beginning to park on the hard shoulders.
The air was thick with fumes as gallons of precious oil burned away in this insane exercise. Has no-one told you people that this is crazy?
It wasn’t freight traffic causing the problem, but thousands upon thousands of people in cars. As it was early evening, one would have to assume that they were coming home from work.
Developers are allowed to create residential deserts, devoid of any meaningful employment. Companies working within London – and other cities – take no responsibility for bringing in thousands of workers daily.
The whole situation is driven by greed and need. There is a lack of joined up responsibility here which urgently needs to be addressed.
elizabethjwalker 
Hi Jane, living where i do a surprisingly similar situation has been created, what with the building of a new gas plant and extending the size of the oil terminal. A lot of jobs have been created in one area also a new population of up too 3000 people from the mainland have come here too work. So being the case, 2 times a day the road is packed with drivers going or returning from work. The wages people get from working for the oil company have helped a lot of young people buy new cars etc cars they do not seem to want to share even though the workers are all going to the same part of the island. It was said, we are three meals away from revolution but now i think how hungry do we really have to be to want to change. The selfish nature of the conditioned makes it hard to feel if any real progress is being made at all. I for one don’t drive so i rely on public transport, i do not have a television so i don’t get fed constant propaganda, i don’t have a connection to my mobile phone and i live within my means and i live the best i can without bank loan or overdraft. I find it tough going at times and do need the help of friends and family at times in order to get cheaper travel and put up with the time spent on coaches and ferries just to get somewhere. When trying to get these simple ideas across i am often viewed as a bit strange. Then again i use the internet a lot and shop at supermarkets. so am forced to participate in various ways in order to survive. I am fearful for the future of this planet and do not know what it will take for people to wake up and take responsibility for their own actions even though it is obvious now something has to change.