If you want to avoid morning traffic, leave home earlier if possible or choose a route with less traffic. This is what Vidmantas Pumputis, head of the Traffic Safety Department of the Ministry of Transport, tells LRT RADIO. According to him, another way to reduce traffic congestion is to avoid the most common driving mistakes.
- Have you counted how many cars return to the streets at the beginning of September?
- Vilnius city municipality notices that in autumn, compared to the summer months, the number of cars increases by about 30-40 percent. Some streets even see up to 50 percent. growth This is natural, because students are returning to schools and kindergartens. That's why the flow is increasing.
- In the opinion of LRT RADIO listeners, traffic jams will increase during September and October, as students will return to the big cities. However, listeners are also convinced that we can take solace in the fact that congestion is even worse in other European cities. Do you agree with these opinions?
- I completely agree with the listeners. They see what is really happening, share their opinions. But I would like to note that at least in the city of Vilnius, compared to last year, traffic jams in the first days of September have significantly decreased.
Congestion is less in both Justiniškės and Šeškinė. Access to the center while driving Ukmergė st., incomparably faster. This was undoubtedly influenced by the Western Bypass. If we compare last year's period, how much we had to discuss with colleagues, it can be said that everyone gets to the center twice as fast and spends much less time in traffic jams.
- Innovative marking of roundabouts was organized in Vilnius last year. How has bandwidth changed? Are drivers more comfortable?
- Yes, on the initiative of the Ministry of Transport, both the Dutch ring and the Minsk ring were reorganized - you can get to the ring road with two lanes. The Vilnius City Municipality conducted research and found that the throughput improved by 30-35 percent. That's quite a lot.
- Some people have no choice - during the morning rush hour they have to go to work, take their children to school or kindergarten. What advice would you give to such drivers?
- Maybe you should plan your time more rationally. About 7 o'clock less congestion. The highest peak is observed from 7.30 am. until 8.00:8.30 a.m. morning Well, sometimes the traffic jams last until XNUMX am. If possible, you should leave earlier or choose another route.
In Vilnius, many people started using the Western Bypass. This frees up the main streets that lead to the center.
You should try to cooperate with others, maybe neighbors, to get more people in the car and use the "4+" lane. It is also possible to reach the center faster.
- Problem areas have formed in some places even when entering or leaving the Western Bypass. Are they monitored in any way in the fall, when car traffic increases?
- Yes, the problem areas of the Western bypass are being repaired and reconstruction is being carried out. Those problems should disappear by the end of the year.
As for other places, the very well-known Pedagogical Ring of the city of Vilnius, where many technical events occur, generally creates a lot of problems with traffic flow. The main problem is that the diameter of the ring is too large, so the ring is driven at high speed.
As a result, the municipality is also planning to reconstruct the pedagogic ring to make the traffic more understandable, so that there are fewer points of conflict. This ring should also see a significant reduction in congestion.
- Maybe you could advise how to avoid the most common mistakes?
- What are the main mistakes made by drivers? This is blocking intersections. Vilnius city municipality has marked intersections with yellow stripes, which once again draws the attention of drivers not to block intersections when the traffic light is green. This is one of the reasons for congestion.
The second reason is technical traffic accidents. It should be understood that if an accident has occurred, you should try to take pictures of the cars as soon as possible and fill out the declarations somewhere far away, without disturbing the flow of traffic.
Uneven movement is also important. This is a very relevant problem for Vilnius city drivers. I don't know, maybe the drivers are distracted, but there is no so-called wave, smooth movement, as, for example, in Germany or other countries, when the drivers, one might say, all move evenly from the place and there are no so-called sleeping drivers.
Perhaps the last problem, which seems to me to be more and more relevant, is that if there is a traffic jam, drivers often turn their attention to their mobile phones, and when it is time to move (I have seen it myself), the phone is used, wasting time, underestimating the distance and making it even more difficult to move .
Sometimes you even hear other drivers honking to go faster, the reason being that the driver is using a mobile phone. You should stay away from your mobile phone not only while driving, but also in traffic jams. You should put it away so you don't want to use it. This is disruptive and also leads to increased congestion.
