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Communications
By admin | August 18, 2009
Not only the speed of means of transportation but also the capacity of the routes is spatially limited. Computer-assisted traffic control does allow us to further increase the density of traffic up to a certain extent; however, road and railway traffic are treated unequally. Whereas the railway in certain countries has to bear all costs, including external costs, such as noise protection, etc., automobile traffic is required to pay only about 10 percent of the cost of road building and maintenance. With the development of “Just-in-Time-Production,” not only the transport industry profits but also the manufacturing sector benefits. By Just-in-Time production, the traffic subsidy is directly converted into a production subsidy. This has changed public transportation space into private storage areas. Just-in-Time Production converts the road space from public transport into private storage areas that are constantly in motion.
To respond to that situation by constructing new roads alone misses the crux the problem, just as much as the goal of restricting mobility, individual mobility and autonomy cannot be separated. We need to develop technological and social options rather than merely extrapolating principles from the past into the future New and better roads are definitely required, but the opportunity lies in a joint consideration of traffic and of the context from which it arises and which it influences. The decisive question is: How and according to which criteria can traffic and communication be socially organized?
Topics: Education |