Chapter II: The theoretical basis

Traffic a function of activities

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Vehicles do not of course move about the roads for mysterious reasons of their own. They move only because people want them to move in connection with activities which they (the people) are engaged in. Traffic is therefore a function of activities. This is fundamental. This explains why there is so much traffic in towns—because activities are concentrated there. It explains why traffic flows between towns, and between town and countryside—because there are complementary activities generating cross-movements. Activities are numberless, but there are only four basic waysin which motor vehicles are used in connection with these activities:

1. Transport of raw materials, merchandise and food.
2. Conveyance of passengers in bulk (buses, coaches, etc.).
3. Conveyance of persons individually or in small numbers (cars, motor cycles, etc.).
4. Mobile services (fire engines, clinics, libraries, etc.).

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The proportions of vehicles used in these four different ways naturally vary between any one body of traffic and another, and between one town and another, according to the nature of the activities carried on. There are regional differences too—the proportion of private cars, for instance, tendsat present to be higher in the southern parts of England than in the north.