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THE IMPORTANCE OF MOTOR VEHICLE TRANSPORTATION - PART 3

Posted by aditya | 3:46 PM | | 1 comments »

Highway transportation has brought great changes to rural areas. Practically all farm products are moved initially by motor vehicle. Many, such as milk, perishable food, and livestock, for which quick delivery is important, travel all the way to market in that manner. With the school bus, the consolidated school has replaced the one-room schoolhouse. Medical attention and similar services are almost as close at hand in the country as in town. There are increased opportunities for recreation, social contacts, and education. In fact, the rural mode of living has become much like that of town and city.


A massive industrial complex has grown to serve motor transportation. In each recent year, 9 to 12 (or more) million new vehicles, of which one-fourth are trucks and buses, have rolled off the assembly lines. To produce and sell these vehicles and to maintain, service, and supply them and the remaining fleet occupies some 4 million people. Added to these are the 9 million involved in trucking, the 300,000 in passenger transport, and the 740,000 in highway construction and maintenance. In all, highway transport uses 14 million people or 22.5% of the total U.S. work force.

Supplying highway transportation in the United States has its price. As indi¬cated above, it consumes many economic resources. In addition, each year it takes more than 50,000 lives, brings injuries to almost 2 million people, and damages 30 million vehicles. It plays a major role in air and noise pollution. Some attribute much of our urban blight, crime, and other ills to it.


Highways, and transportation operating on them, also play an important role in the other "developed" countries of the world. The Canadian situation closely parallels that in the United States.  The countries of Western Europe and Japan generally have much greater population densities and more highly developed rail and bus systems for the transportation of people. For example, in London and Paris, transit rides per unit of population are over 250 per year; .in the United States, with the exception of New York, the range is 50 to 80.

Automobile ownership is lower in other countries than the one car for every two persons in the United States. Ratios in other developed countries include Sweden, 1 to 2.8; West Germany, 1 to 3.0; Franco, 1 to 3.1; and the United Kingdom, 1 to 3.9. For comparison, the ratios for Japan are 1 to 5.7; Spain, 1 to 6.1; Greece, 1 to 15; Russia, 1 to 46; and China, 1 to 24,000.
Many of the developed countries have policies that discourage motor vehicle use, such as high taxes on them and on fuel. Furthermore, national policies may favor rail facilities over buses and trucks. Even so, motor vehicle manufacture is an important industry in the developed nations of the world. In 1978, produc¬tion in millions of vehicles was Canada 1.8, Europe 16.2, and Asia 9.3.
In the underdeveloped nations of the world, improving transportation, primarily through providing motor vehicles and highways for them, is a major goal. 

Efficient movement of agricultural products, access to medical attention, and the ability to transport raw materials and finished products are all essential if they are to raise living standards above the subsistence level. None of these can be accomplished when transportation relies on what people or animals can carry on their backs or pull in carts or wagons. In a day, they can transport something like 60 or 300 lb, respectively, for 15 mi. Possibly a horse, mule, or elephant can draw half a ton an equal distance. But on all-weather roads, one person driving a diesel truck can move about 16 tons 200 mi daily.

Some developing nations have made substantial beginnings in developing roads; others have plans under way, often with support from the World Bank, the Agency for International Development, the United Nations, and other agencies. However, they lack motor vehicles. An extreme case is China where, with 40,000 automobiles and 700,000 trucks and buses, the ratios of automobiles and all vehicles to population are 1 to 24,000 and 1 to 1300, respectively. For Africa, excluding the Republic of South Africa, which has 44% of the conti¬nent's total vehicles, these ratios are 1 per 100 and 1 per 150, respectively. A major effort will be required to provide motor transport and the roads to accommodate it in many developing countries in the years ahead.

Title Post: THE IMPORTANCE OF MOTOR VEHICLE TRANSPORTATION - PART 3
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Author: aditya