Traffic Congestion In Business

b) Wikipedia defines traffic congestion as the condition on road networks that occur as the use as use increase is characterized by slower speed, longer trip times and increased vehicular queuing. Congestion occurs when the demand for transport is greater than the supply of transport in a particular part of the transport system. Congestion is deemed bad for the economy as it has a negative impact on the business activities that are common in towns like Windhoek. Traffic congestion is popular during the mornings when everybody is travelling to school, work it is also popular during the night when people have knocked off and are returning to their homes.

Traffic congestion imposes costs to businesses beyond the mere vehicle and driver costs of delay, including potential effects on inventory costs, logistics costs, reliability costs, just-in-time processing costs and the reductions in market areas for workers, customers and incoming/ outgoing deliveries (NCHRP REPORT 463, 2010, p.10).

Congestion is responsible for additional costs incurred by the business; this can be the cost of petrol which is wasted while standing still in traffic or moving at a slow pace, also a driver could take a longer route to avoid roads that are full but this leads to increased logistics costs as this routes were not originally state when plans to deliver goods were made. Extra cost incurred by the business are a serious problem as the firm uses scarce resources it did not budget for or resources that could have been used somewhere else to derive more profits for the business. Congestion also results in the late arrival of products and materials to be used in the business for production. If goods are delivered late the demand is likely to decrease as cons...

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...port due to congestion, the issue of congestion is also one that has to be solved by setting up several policies and control mechanisms such as charges which all require government funds which could have been used to help society in another way which could be more beneficial.

Congestion does not only negatively impact the economy but it also causes social impacts on road users such as accidents and it is thus necessary to implement policy that can curb out congestion such as congestion charges. Although the impact of congestion is hardly recognized by many people in society and business do not record the losses incurred thanks to congestion, they are serious and lead to enormous financial distress if not addressed and reduced performance of the workforce. Congestion should therefore be dealt with as it has a negative impact on economies.