Annals of Motordom – 11

An occasional update on items from Motordom – the world of auto dominance.

NINE-DAY TRAFFIC JAM

They do everything bigger in China:

Thousands of vehicles were bogged down Monday in a more than 100-kilometre (62-mile) traffic jam leading to Beijing that has lasted nine days and highlights China’s growing road congestion woes.

The Beijing-Tibet expressway slowed to a crawl on August 14 due to a spike in traffic by cargo-bearing heavy trucks heading to the capital, and compounded by road maintenance work that began five days later, the Global Times said.

More here.

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BAD TIMING

The second report of the UK Industry Taskforce on Peak Oil and Energy Security (ITPOES) finds that oil shortages, insecurity of supply and price volatility will destabilise economic, political and social activity potentially by 2015.

Quotes from Taskforce members:

‘The UK’s freight network, cars and public transport systems are almost entirely dependent on oil. The twin threats of the oil crunch and climate change make that unsustainable. We need urgent Government action to support alternative technologies and incentivise behavioural change to protect business, consumers and our environment’. – Brian Souter, CEO of Stagecoach Group.

‘There is the danger of creating a social recession as the poorest households get hit the hardest by higher prices. Economic growth will be endangered as prices rise, costs of raw materials increase and consumer spending ability is suppressed’. – Ian Marchant, CEO of Scottish & Southern Energy.

‘As we reach the maximum rate of oil extraction, the era of cheap oil is behind us. We must plan for a world in which oil prices are likely to be both higher and more volatile and where oil price shocks have the potential to destabilise economic, political and social activity’. – Philip Dilley, Chairman of Arup.”