Back Better-roads Case : Mr. Brunner
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ACALLfor adequate support for those who press, for road improvements was made in Canada on Tuesday by Mr. C. T, Brunner, vice-chairman of the British •Road Federation. Mr. Brunner is_a director of Shell-Mex and B.F., Ltd. He was presenting a paper on "Saving the City from the Stranglehold of Traffic" to the Canadian Good. Roads
Association in Toronto, Ontario. •
He described the present situation in Britainwhere, totlay, one-third of thc families owned a vehicle, compared with one family in seven only 10 years ago. After examining the facts relating to road transport, road programmes, population densities, traffic conditions, public and private road transport, parking questions and planning matters, with particular reference to -London, Mr. Brunner said:
In • this review of conditions and developments in Britain, I have not attempted to play down the seemingly slow progress which has been made in tackling the problem of the city; it is important, however, to understand how this has come about.
"In any democratic society an informed and insistent public opinion is frequently an essential prerequisite to effective government action. I do not say that he who shouts loudest will necessarily win the day, but I do believe that any cause, whatever its merits, can be lost through inadequate support.
"The time for patchwork remedies is long past, the challenge of reshaping our cities and our wholeenvironment to living with the motor Vehicle is a real and exciting one. In Britain we cannot afford to ignore it any longer."
Britain probably spent a smaller amount on road building and maintenance, expressed as a proportion of total vehicle taxation receipts, than any other country, he.. went on. It was 15 per cent, last year, compared with 20 per cent. by France, 38 per cent, by Italy and 81 per cent, by the U.S.A.
"Britain is paying ' dearly for her inadequate investment in roads in the past," said Mr. Brunner. The Road Research Laboratory had calculated, tha,t, eXcluding leisure time, traffic congestion cost the comMunity last year about E240m.
"One regrets that -Britain's: current plans, although more comprehensive than anything previously attempted, have neither sufficient urgency nor sufficient scope to deal with the situation, despite the fact that mechanical plant is avail able in the country which could build highways at least at twice the present rate, if enough priority were given to the task."