Road traffic: Jams today, jams tomorrow ...

The recent 100-km long traffic jam on the Beijing-Tibet Expressway, which extended till Beijing's outer suburbs caught the world's attention because of the sheer scale of the block and the length of time that people were caught up in it. But media coverage in many of the world's most affluent countries was generally received by audiences with a wry smile that said: "China, welcome to the motor age."

While the recent traffic jam in China has been blamed on the large number of trucks transporting coal along the highway, many are concerned that such jams will become widespread in the country as auto ownership continues to increase.

In Los Angeles, for example, which is famous for its high-capacity regional freeway network, the long-suffering residents of Los Angeles experience traffic crawl on their drive to work nearly every day. Germany is equally well known for its extensive network of intercity autobahns - but Germans setting off on a drive to Berlin or Munich in summer do so amid a flurry of radio warnings of traffic jams along the way that often bring their eager and powerful BMW and Mercedes cars to a standstill.