Traffic congestion facts for kids

Congestion during road construction

Traffic congestion is when vehicles travel slower because there is too much traffic on roads. This makes trip times longer, and increases queueing. This is also known as a traffic jam. Congestion may result from a decrease in capacity, for example accidents on the road or roads being closed. Bad road layouts can also restrict capacity. Increased traffic, for example by many cars leaving a sports stadium at the same time, can also cause congestion.

Where congestion is common, for example because of commuting in big cities, several methods are used to relieve it. Cars may be banned in certain districts or certain times, or made to carry passengers or pay a fee, or people may use public transport, such as rapid transit, which travel independently of car traffic and are not affected by traffic jams.

Images for kids

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  Heavy traffic jam in Garden Ring, Moscow

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  This percentage split shows the main causes of traffic congestion. The most common cause is bottlenecking (encircled).

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  Congestion on a street in Taipei consisting primarily of motorcycles

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  India's economic growth has resulted in a massive increase in the number of private vehicles on its roads overwhelming the transport infrastructure. Shown here is a traffic jam in Delhi.

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  Rapid economic growth in China has resulted in a massive increase in the number of private vehicles in its major cities. Shown here is a traffic jam in downtown Haikou, Hainan Province, China.

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  The houses in this street in Royal Tunbridge Wells was built when car ownership was exceptional and so there was no provision for garages or even off-street parking. As such, the streets are full of parked cars (on-street parking) and form an artificial choke point, increasing the likelihood of traffic congestion.

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  Metered ramp on I-894 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S. The queue of cars waiting at the red light can be seen on the upper portion of the picture.

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  The HOV lanes in Highway 404 in Southern Ontario are separated by a stripped buffer zone that breaks occasionally to allow vehicles to enter and exit the HOV lane.

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  Widening works under way on the M25 motorway surrounding London, England to increase the number of lanes

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  Bike lane constructed in areas of low space to encourage use of human-sized transportation

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  Traffic congestion detector in Germany

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  Different modes of transport require different amounts of road space

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  Traffic jam in Warringah Freeway

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  Traffic jam in Dhaka

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  Typical traffic jam in São Paulo downtown, despite road space rationing by plate number. Rua da Consolação, São Paulo, Brazil

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  Highway 401 in Ontario, which passes through Toronto, suffers chronic traffic congestion despite its width of up to 18 lanes.

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  Traffic jam in Beijing

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  Traffic congestion in Haikou

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  Traffic jam in New Delhi

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  Traffic congestion in Bandung, West Java

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  Busy traffic in Auckland

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  Traffic congestion on Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA)

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  Traffic congestion in Istanbul

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  Congestion on A64 road which heading towards to York

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  A solution to traffic congestion using Northern Ireland Railways from Moira to Belfast Great Victoria Street

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  On Fridays in California, Interstate 5 is often congested as Los Angeles residents travel north for the weekend.

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  Congestion during lunch hour on U.S. Route 11E in Morristown, Tennessee

See also

In Spanish: Congestión vehicular para niños