The agitation traffic is the group of vehicles that circulate through a municipality looking for parking. This is a common phenomenon that has a very negative impact on the municipal mobilityThe first is because it hinders urban mobility and the second because it is particularly polluting.
The search for parking accounts for 25% of the time that drivers spend behind the wheel and, at times of major urban congestion, 35% of the vehicles that circulate are looking for parking, according to a study by the company Parclick reported by Europa Press.. Shaking traffic, therefore, further aggravates the mobility problem that many cities have.
According to the TomTom Traffic Index 2023, Barcelona is the city in the country where the most time is lost per year driving during rush hour due to traffic jams: 59 hours, more than two days. The Catalan capital surpasses in this ranking Palma de Mallorca (53 hours) and Madrid (51 hours). On the other hand, Vitoria is the Spanish city where it takes the longest time to travel 10 km (21 minutes), followed by Gijón (19 minutes and 50 seconds), Alicante (19 min and 20 sec), Barcelona y Zaragoza (19 min) and Madrid (18 min).
In addition, hectic traffic is one of the main causes of road insecurity in small municipalities, where it is especially sought to leave the car at the door of the house, according to the “Guide for the introduction of road safety criteria in the drafting of sustainable urban mobility plans.“, prepared by the National Road Safety Observatory and the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) in collaboration with the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP).
In addition to mobility problems, however, hectic traffic also has environmental consequences. slow speeds and low gears, as well as frequent braking and acceleration, require higher fuel consumption and thus generate higher CO and therefore generates more CO₂ emissions.
If we analyze the aforementioned TomTom study, we see how, at rush hour, cars do not exceed thirty kilometers per hour in any of the following cities: Barcelona (27 km/h), Madrid (29 km/h), Seville (29 km/h), Alicante (29 km/h), Vitoria (27 km/h) and Gijón (28 km/h).
How to reduce churning traffic?
Shaking traffic, as we have seen, has negative consequences not only for the municipalities, causing a worse urban mobility y more pollutionThis is a phenomenon that many municipalities are combating with a variety of measures, among them: the following are some of the most important ones: the use of the new technologies, the use of new technologies, the use of new technologies, the use of new technologies, the use of new technologies, and the use of new technologies. This is a phenomenon that many municipalities are combating with various measures, among which the following stand out:
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Regulated Access Zones (ZAR)
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- Implementation of green and blue parking zones to encourage vehicle rotation and discourage car travel.
- Implementation of parking zones for residents, so that they need less time to park in their neighborhood and drivers-visitors are expelled.
- Implementation of park-and-ride (P+R) facilities that encourage the use of public transportation to access the city center, such as the AMB P+R application application of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona, which guarantees parking in authorized zones on the outskirts if public transport is then used to approach the center with frequently used travel cards.
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Low Emission Zones (LEZ):
reduction in the number of vehicles that can access the restricted area by prohibiting access to the most polluting vehicles, although it must be accompanied by other measures such as a strengthening of public transport, otherwise it could generate a border effect: displacing the problem to areas of the city bordering the LEZ. In Catalonia there are 65 municipalities that will introduce a low emission zone before 2026..
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Promotion of alternative mobility methods:
improvement of public transport infrastructure and frequencies, construction of bike lanes to increase bicycle use and implementation of bike, motorcycle or car sharing services (such as AMBici in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona, Ganxeta in Reus or Girocleta in Girona).
To ensure the proper functioning of regulated access zones and low-emission zones, some municipalities use technologies such as our license plate reading systems systems focused on the control of ZAR and ZBEThe system can also be used to manage multiple timetables and durations of the restriction of passage, the creation of lists of authorized vehicles and white lists for municipal and emergency vehicles, and the generation of sanctioning procedures.
