IELTS Writing Task 2 with sample answer
You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
The unlimited use of cars may cause many problems. What are those problems? In order to reduce the problems, should we discourage people to use cars?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Write at least 250 words.
Sample Answer:
Uncontrolled use of cars causes many severe issues, including traffic congestion, environmental pollution and degradation of public health despite their ability to give us the freedom to commute and travel comfortably. Since cars are ubiquitous and people are dependant on them, we should not take any drastic measure to limit their use overnight. Rather we should find ways to improve our roads, produce environment-friendly cars and run awareness campaigns.
The first problem that the use of cars cause is the traffic jam. Traffic congestion kills valuable time, which severely impacts people’s productivity and the nation’s economy. For instance, a recent survey outlines that traffic bottlenecks alone cause 7.8 billion dollar losses each year in our country. Environmental problems that stem from unchecked use of cars is perhaps the greatest problem of all as cars directly contribute to climate change, air and noise pollution. Finally, overreliance on cars has severe health consequences. It is evident that obesity is already a global problem and our reliance on cars even to cross a short distance would only make things graver in the future.
To solve these problems, we need long-term solutions. The authorities can not just ban cars overnight. It would impact the economy and create a public outcry. To reduce traffic congestion, city authorities should develop their infrastructure and improve their public transportation system. For instance, people in many large cities take public transports despite owning personal cars. This has been possible only because the public transports in these cities are modern, affordable and comfortable. To address the environmental pollution issue, car manufacturers and the government should invest more money in researching and manufacturing electric and solar cars. To check the noise pollution, the authority should ban the use of horns in residential areas. Finally, awareness campaigns to educate people about the consequences of overreliance on cars can fight public health issues.
To conclude, discouraging people from using their cars seems like a quick and easy solution due to their negative consequences. However, we need long-term planning and solutions to address those matters as we are already highly dependant on cars for travelling and commuting.