Traffic sucks! a solution...?

[Truth]

Hey people!

so here's where my mind's been lately, traffic's a BITCH

i drive an hour one way every day to downtown LA. i dont mind the extra thinking time but i figure we're doing a ton of harm to the environment, the economy, our health, everything

so, i started trying to break this down and i wanted to see what you all think.

PREMISE 1; traffic is when (on the freeway) people are moving slowly, a lot of times stopped, with very little distance between them and the car in front of them

PREMISE 2; braking causes more braking! if you're moving faster than the person in front of you, you'll have to brake (or downshift) to avoid hitting them. your slowing down causes the car behind u to slow down, etc.

PREMISE 3; if we weren't so close to the car in front of us, we would brake less, and ultimately cause less braking to hundreds of cars behind us

CONCLUSION; if we leave more car distances between us and the car in front of us, we brake less, keep things moving easier, make lane changes easier and less constricting to traffic, allow people to move at a faster pace (closer to their optimal gas mileage), lessens travel times and lessens pollution to our environment

it reminds me of this idea of a Nash Equilibrium (tho im not totally sure if this is accurate) where everyone looks out for the greater common good (less pollution, driving time, gas use) instead of their personal gain (sticking on the ass of the car in front of them under the guise of gaining speed or moving faster when they're STILL limited by the speed of the car in front of them).

leaving 6-8 car distances between u and the car in front of you, regardless of your speed, will all but eliminate traffic (except on freeway exits and where the freeway ends)

i'd love for someone to show me how this is wrong.

(much love and respect to previous traffic posts about how slowing down our speed and that how the greater population shedding some weight would also solve part of the traffic/pollution problem)

[Tych0]

It's a great theory, but you forget about all the road raging spaz cases and people who care more about getting to their destination before everyone else, talking on their cellphone while watching DVDs in their dash mounted LCD display, while sipping their latte in the other hand and driving with their knees than alleviating traffic and saving fuel. In Germany, for example, there are no traffic jams at all, because people actually obey the traffic signs and smoothly go single file past construction or an accident instead of staring at it. Most German cars have like only one cupholder in the car and it's for the passenger, because they believe you should be driving the car, not having a picnic.

[cosmiceon]

another things is people need to stop being so nosy when it comes to accidents. its important to assist someone when they need help on the freeway but have you ever noticed how people will slow down for nothing and it causes a chain reaction of cars behind it to look at nothing?

[infornographic]

Originally Posted by cosmiceon

another things is people need to stop being so nosy when it comes to accidents. its important to assist someone when they need help on the freeway but have you ever noticed how people will slow down for nothing and it causes a chain reaction of cars behind it to look at nothing?

so this:



you are saying not stare worthy
bottle necks are not that bad
things you can do:
get a motorcycle,
learn backroads,
map detours on googlemaps,
skip big highway interchanges,
pay toll roads.
it not as if one can not do a thing about it.
you are not helpless, sorry.
here is a helpful video with traffic advice:


[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

[cosmiceon]

Originally Posted by notkoosh

so this:



you are saying not stare worthy
bottle necks are not that bad
things you can do:
get a motorcycle,
learn backroads,
map detours on googlemaps,
skip big highway interchanges,
pay toll roads.
it not as if one can not do a thing about it.
you are not helpless, sorry.
here is a helpful video with traffic advice:


[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

hahaha thats definatly worth it
but usualy its never anything that extraordinary

[infornographic]

Originally Posted by cosmiceon

hahaha thats definatly worth it
but usualy its never anything that extraordinary

yeah. word.
the last good one i saw was on the 60eb just short of the 57 interchange.
six cars.
idk, some while later a random on the space posts an appreciate life bulletin. it wasnt fatal, and she was not banged up that hard.
small world though.

[Seashrooms]

Well if everyone was being more friendly and less pushy on the highways and what-not then there would be less accidents for people to slow down and look at!!

But then there's the semi-trucks and those accidents....Well if they stayed in the lanes they were supposed to be in all the time then that would help with those accidents!!!

But then there are the people will the cellphones and food....lets just take out the satellites and bulldoze McDonalds =D

.............what about the women on pms then???

Lets all just ride bikes and wait for them to invent the hover car so we fly around-
There can't be traffic jams in every direction right ;P