Traffic Jam

Traffic Jam

I read today in the LA Times about solutions to reduce traffic congestion. Some of them seem stupid to me. Some of them have possibilities. I'm one of the few lucky ones who are retired and don't have to deal with the horrors of trying to get to and from work in traffic.

Most people aren't aware that if someone going at freeway speeds presses on the brake, traffic stops fifteen miles back. Therefore, one solution the article didn't mention was autonomous cars.

If everyone had a car with autonomous software, the car would make sure it stayed with traffic at the speed limit. The cars wouldn't be stopping and starting, going too fast for the traffic flow, cutting in and out of lanes just to get a few feet closer to their destination, driving too slow because you're a lousy driver and you know it, and driving too slow because you don't know where the hell you're going and where to get off. 

I know its years away for everyone to have autonomous software built into your car (old or new). However, everything stated in the LA Times article (like building tunnels, intelligent traffic lights, buses that lift up high so cars can run under them, etc.) will take at least as long if not longer and cost more money. 

My friend suggested that like the left diamond lane requiring two people or more, and has a fine of $172 if you don't have two people or more, we should create a right lane for lousy drivers, anyone with blue hair, anyone who is afraid to go faster than forty miles per hour, and/or anyone driving an old car that's blowing major smoke out of the tailpipe. That person/car should be fined $202 if they don't drive in the far right lane.

BTW, I always wondered how the hell did they came up with the extra $2. It reminds me of a very old joke. Sadie tells her friend she went out last night and prostituted herself. Her amazed friend asked her how much did she make. Sadie said $102. The friend asked why the $2? Sadie said because everyone gave me $2.

Sooo, if you're mad as hell and can't take the traffic any more, rally the government to make autonomous cars mandatory by 2020. If that doesn't work, find a way to be happy while you're in:

Traffic Jam Hell