Too many cars in the streets

Will artificial intelligence save us from traffic jams? The new operational model announced by the government to manage traffic in Attica will utilize the capabilities of AI. Based on the plan, information collected from drones, cameras, officers on motorcycles, and traffic police on ongoing construction projects, public transport, weather conditions, traffic light failures, and accidents, will end up in a central database, to facilitate decision-making. This will undoubtedly be useful. Anyone who has crossed the center of Athens during rush hour, anyone who travels up Akadimias Street or down Panepistimiou Street and has seen a lane of traffic used by stopped cars with their alarms on, hopes that this live information about the state of the roads will lead to immediate interventions to unblock them from such obstacles. Of course, 'temporary' car stops are not the root of the problem. Kifissos Avenue, which has become a synonym for traffic congestion in the Greek capital, and where bottlenecks reappeared on Monday as the summer season winds down, has no parked cars. The main cause of traffic in the Attica basin is the huge number of cars that roam the streets every day to serve necessary activities, and these measures will not reduce their number. Transportation experts and common sense dictate that a different way is needed to organize the daily work commute. The basis of any discussion on dealing with traffic congestion is building a reliable system of public transport which will stop viewing the car as the only realistic option. Despite the occasional interventions, despite the announcements for new buses or new trains, public transport in Attica is far from satisfactory. Anyone who has used in recent weeks the train with the broken air conditioning understands this. At the same time, the grand declarations for the creation of infrastructure that will facilitate the use of alternative means of transport, such as bicycles, have remained just that, for years. Meanwhile, the government's choice to build new roads to help unclog existing roads has usually just brought even more cars onto the roads. The experience of Attiki Odos has proved this.