1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164 
Dealer calls for second 'traffic tsar'
Page 11
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
MI A West Midland truck dealer claims the region desperately needs its own 'roads tsar' because existing measures to ease congestion are proving so Ineffective.
Chris Kelly says his Keltruck Scania dealership, which overlooks Junction 1 of the M5 at West Bromwich, was blocked off by traffic jams for three hours last week following a minor accident on the motorway.
"I made several calls to the council as well as to the police. It's an absolute joke. It can't be any worse with a traffic tsar as without one so let's give it a try" The idea of regional traffic managers to minimise disruption to traffic is currently being promoted by Transport Secretary Alistair Darling (CM 23-29 January).
Kelly, who is also head of Nottingham-based East Midland Commercials, is a member of the Black Country Chamber of Commerce transport policy group.
He says local examples of incompetent traffic management schemes include Installing traffic lights at junction 9 of the M6 so that trucks going uphill are forced to stop before joining the motorway. He also attacks the way some pull-in areas for buses have been filled in so that when they stop to pick up passengers they inevitably interrupt the flow of traffic.
However, the Department for Transport says the work of regional traffic directors is likely to focus purely on minimising disruption to traffic from roadworks.
And Dr Malcolm Read, chief transportation officer for Wolverhampton, says he believes the region's seven local authorities are already proving effective in co-ordinating this work.