Secular Café: London Olympics and traffic chaos

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London Olympics and traffic chaos Jul 16th 2012, 12:50 Predictable! http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/oly...cs-starts.html Quote: Traffic crawled into London today as the first of the Olympic Games lanes came into force on the M4. Experts had already warned it would create 'the perfect storm' should there be an accident or breakdown. Later in the day the West Coast Main Line linking London and the North West was completely blocked in Hertfordshire for more than half an hour following a suicide at Hemel Hempstead At one point the queue on the M4 started as far back as the A34 - about 32 miles from the start of the Games Lane, as traffic funnelling from three lanes into two was also held up by an accident near junction 11 close to Maidenhead... ...Former head of traffic at the Metropolitan Police Kevin Delaney, now head of road safety at the Institute of Advanced Motorists, said: "The problem with the Games lanes is that London's road network runs at, or very close to, capacity almost all day, almost every day of the year. "Wherever the Games lanes are, they have reduced the amount of lanes for ordinary traffic. You are actually reducing the amount of road space for ordinary traffic. "Unless everybody heeds the advice to not drive, there are problems. Imagine if there is a situation where we have a breakdown or a crash. The road network just would not cope with that. "It would be like a perfect storm - the level of congestion that you would normally get would be magnified. "It is because London's road network actually operates so efficiently that if anything goes wrong it goes badly wrong. "The best analogy I can make is the blood system in your body - it works fine until you get a clot but when you do get one it has a disproportionate effect.".., ...There are fears that this could lead to gridlock in the capital. Many businesses have voiced fear of how the capital will cope, especially restaurants who have been told they will have to receive food deliveries in the early hours of the morning... ...Those who stray into operational Games Lanes face a penalty charge of £130, while illegally parked vehicles will be removed to a pound and may incur a release fee of £200.

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