Roads need no introduction because every individual is familiar with road, road transportation refers to transportation of people as well as goods over road network and it can be safely said that road transport is one of the basic pillars on which the economy of a country runs because without good road network all other things will suffer as it is the most used means of transport all over the world. In order to have a clear understanding of road transport one should look at various features of road transport –
Road Transport Characteristics
Omnipresent
The first and foremost characteristic of road transportation is that they are omnipresent implying that they are present in every corner of the country unlike other means of transport like railways or air transport which are not found everywhere. In simple words, roads can be compared with blood in human beings just like blood flows throughout the body of the human being in the same way roads are present in every corner of the country.
Less Time Consuming for Short Distances
Another feature of road network is that when one has to travel for short distance then this is the fastest means of transportation because in case of other modes of transportation like railways or airways one has to go railway station or airport which takes a lot of time but when it comes to roads one can reach the destination directly without any wastage of time.
Dependent on Weather
Roads are dependent on weather conditions, hence in case of floods, it is the road network which gets affected first or for that matter in case of landslides, roads become completely inaccessible. Hence in simple words, roads are most vulnerable to vagaries of weather.
Economical for Government
As far as government is concerned it is easier for government to build roads than building other modes of transportation because whether its airports or railways track or sea network all require considerable time as well as money on the part of the government and hence given a choice government will always prefer to build road rather than building infrastructure for other means of transport.
Complements other Modes of Transports
Roads complement other modes of transport because whether you travel by train or travel by airplane you have to use roads for traveling from your home to the railway station or airports. In simple words, it does not matter whether you travel by road for 1 mile or 10 miles but the fact is that without using roads you cannot use other modes of transport.
Emergencies and Perishable Goods
In case of medical emergencies and when one has to transport perishable goods from one place to another than road transport are not ideal rather air route is the best option when one is talking about medical emergencies as well as transporting perishable goods.
As one can see from the above characteristics of road transport that roads have unique characteristics and that is the reason why they are different from other modes of transports and hence require a different approach as oppose to other means of transportation like sea transport or rail transport.