IELTS Writing Sample: Traffic

The only way to reduce the amount of traffic in cities today is by reducing the need for people to travel from home for work, education, or shopping.

To what extend do you agree or disagree?

Traffic

A large amount of traffic in towns and especially in cities – is a great problem to the world. The huge numbers of cars have flooded the streets making noises and emitting tons of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, oxide of nitrogen and soot, causing traffic jams and road accidents, as well as becoming obstacles for pedestrians. The lack of parking lots makes drivers park in inappropriate places, which causes inconveniences for local residents.

The increase of the level of motorization, the growth of the number of inhabitants in cities are the main causes of enlarging the amount of traffic.

So, what can be done to solve this problem? Reducing the people’s demand for moving from home to places of work, rest or purchasing goods could be a good remedy, but in what way? This does not mean that people should be prohibited from moving freely within the city, but this means the creation of necessary infrastructure, which involves hospitals, big malls and markets, educational establishments and, especially, places of application of labour in each residential area. However, almost all the big cities have their fully formed development areas and making changes does not seem possible or it is too expensive. Take, for example, Kyiv: the great number of people lives in residential areas on the left bank of the river Dniper, but places of work are situated on the right bank. So, every morning and every evening all workers are stuck in traffic jams on bridges across the river.

In other words, this proposition of solving the problem cannot be the sole. Moreover, I think that there are more simple and efficient methods to reduce the amount of traffic. So, using public transport instead of private cars could significantly improve the situation with “stuffed” roads. What’s more, there is a need for preferring development and use of environmentally friendly types of transport, such as trams, trolleybuses, the underground railway system – this can also decrease the number of pollutants, emitted by the petrol cars. The government also should contribute to the solution of the problem: among other things, for example, to oblige officials to cycle to work or to impose the penalties for unoccupied seats in the private cars in the morning hours.

Band: 7.5