I dont understand the concept of traffic. I dont understand why you can get stuck in traffic for an hour to get somewhere that is a mere 20 minutes away. My philosophy is: as long as everyone continues to move and flow, there should be no reason for everything to clog up. There should be no reason to brake, praying your spedometer rises above 10 miles per hour. Keep moving and there should be no problem, right?? Right.
But of course. People introduce flaws into my philosophy. You have a wide variety of people on the road, all containing their own agendas. It would be fantastic if we all worked together, which is another soapbox speech I wont dive too far into at this moment. But I will touch on it by saying, we live in a world that has become dog-eat-dog. We are constantly competing against other people. We have to. Competing for a job. Competing for attention. Competing for the last cookie. Competing for a parking spot. At some point, we must realize that only when we work together will the world be a little easier to live in. When we help each other out, well become better able to achieve where we want to go. It only gets doubly difficult when youre striving after something and you have to worry about watching your back because someone is going for the same thing. Dont believe me? Ill give you an example. Black Friday. Why is it called Black Friday? Because it has become a day of darkness. Of pepper spray, muggings, tramplings, deaths... Why? Because people are competing for things - toys, electronics, clothes, the best sales...
And that was only a small portion of my idea on working together in the world. Back to traffic.
Ill only do a few of the groups on the road, since this list can get mildly long. First, you have the slow drivers. Those drivers who insist on jamming up the fast lane and the lane next to the fast lane. Who persuade themselves they are doing their civic duty by keeping people safe by refraining them from going above 55 miles per hour. After all, the "slow lane" on the right gets interrupted by merging traffic, and that just wont work.
Which brings me to the second type of drivers - the mergers. These drivers believe they are automatically entitled to a spot on the road. They believe it is your duty to adjust your speed to suit their merging needs. If you need to slow or speed up to avoid a collision with them, well clearly that is your problem, not theirs. In essence, shouldnt we be gracious hosts by welcoming them onto the road with an open spot in the lane??
Third, you have the oblivious drivers. Those drivers who dont pay any attention to the people around them. They assume that if they need to get into your lane, you will accommodate them. And when they dont use their blinker, well hel-lo you should know their plan of action and anticipate it. These people usually drive in the fast lane at a slower speed, then realize they need to exit the freeway, um NOW, and then cross 5 lanes of traffic. Youre upset with them?? Well, you should know their plan and accommodate them!
Fourth, you have the precautionary brakers. Those drivers who like to let you know their brakes work and want to give you a small light show... since youre obviously bored. Theyre trying to entertain you, but really, theyre only entertaining themselves. These drivers often see a brake light maybe miles ahead of them and begin to prepare for a full-on stop. Since when is being cautious a bad thing??
Fifth, you have the speed demons, also known as the idiots. These are the drivers who really should get pulled over for attempted manslaughter because it seems at if their purpose is to kill someone. But as they weave in and out of lanes, dodging those slow drivers, they hinder the flow of traffic by cutting people off, tailgating, etc.. Though, in actually, we should be moving for them. Their destination is undoubtedly more important than yours, thus everyone should be clearing a path for them.
Theres several more groups of drivers. Some begin to overlap. Typically, mergers become oblivious drivers. Slow drivers and oblivious drivers have a lot in common. We also have the distracted drivers - easily engrossed by texting or passing an accident, the foreigners - either from a different country or different state or different city and simply do not understand how things work where you are, the overcautious drivers - who do not know how to drive carefully in rain so they must crawl through puddles to be safe, and the list goes on.
I am convinced that these are the reasons for traffic. It is not that there are an abundant amount of people swarming the roads at a specific time. It is not because it is 5oclock or Thanksgiving break. It is because you have people who like to hold everyone else up. Because everyone is working on that persons clock. I understand if there is an accident and a few lanes are shut down. Given, it doesnt help the paramedics if everyone tries to see what happened, but I understand the need for braking in an accident situation. In intense weather conditions, obviously, some slowing is expected and necessary. There is a time to brake and a time to either coast or gas it.
In case you havent caught on, I have gotten stuck in some pretty heavy traffic on several different occasions lately. It is absolutely ridiculous. Luckily, I am not the worst person in the world when dealing with traffic. Ive learned that driving along the side of the road is not the answer, so I must wait for my time to accelerate and leave the braking behind me. In those times, I recommend turning up the radio and singing along with the tunes. It is relaxing and distracting - not in the sense that you become a distracted driver, but in the sense that your mind isnt completely consumed with the frustrations of traffic.
Then there are the times, where youre flowin along with everyone else. Same speeds, not too slow, not too fast. All in harmony. Its pure bliss. You cant help but smile to yourself because the drive is just going that well. Then you see them. They start out in the distance, but their brightness is unmistakable. Brakes. Of course someone had to ruin it. And like the plague, its contagious and spreads. Before you know it, you have your foot on that pedal causing you to slow, as well. Throwing up your fists you plead "WHY?!" Before you know it, your question is faithfully answered.
And then you are so grateful someone initiated the braking sequence after spotting that dark squad car waiting for someone to come speeding around the bend you just came from.
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