You're doomed to suffer in traffic jams forever
In theory, there's plenty of environmental reasons to drive less (or not at all, if you can manage it). Global warming, smog, blah blah blah. But in practice, the worst part about the bazillions of cars on the road is the massive, immobile, crawling-at-5mph-makes-me-hate-my-wasted-life traffic jams we endure on the way to and from work every morning. Nothing sucks quite like being stuck in a vehicle that could be traveling at speeds upwards of 100mph, while you're out-paced by cyclists, pedestrians, and old ladies with walkers.
Oh, the humanity.
The solution I hear most often down here in Texas is "build more roads." Make 'um wider, build 'um longer -- highways, toll roads, city roads, loop roads, etc. But recent Japanese research seems to suggest that these initiatives, no matter how well-designed, won't make any difference. In the above video, the cars on the track have enough room to drive at a continuous speed, around and around, to infinity. But before long, a few cars bunch up, which makes the cars behind them bunch up, which makes the cars behind them bunch up, and so on -- causing a traffic jam.
What's the moral? Take the train, ride your bike, catch a ride with a buddy and take the traffic-free carpool lane -- anything to avoid stopping and going, over and over and over, until you loose the will to live.
[via swissmiss]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-13-2008 @ 8:08AM
Julie Pippert said...
I was thinking about this when it took me 45 minutes to drive about six miles. In this case, they are remaining true to the Texas credo and are spending millions to build a bypass over or main road and to widen the road. In the meantimes, it makes traffic worse due to construction, and I wonder if it will really help matters that much. I cannot understand why we don't have buses that run up this road. I feel sure a lot of locals would quit driving if they had this option. But a sure way to get the "you are a real nutjob" look here is to say "public transportation."
"Perennial xeriscaping" is another good one as is "fully realized recycling will cut your garbage down to almost nothing, so if we cut ou rtrash pickup to once a week, we can possibly cut 50% of our city budget and use those funds for other projects."
I think people are buying me a bus ticket to Austin right now...
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