So traffic is real. Every day we travel from one place to another so that we can reach our destination to accomplish our daily tasks. And then traffic is there to somehow delay you with your day. Well, in this modern world, it’s not just you have daily tasks… it’s everybody! So together with the rest of the world, we travel in our different destinations, cross each other’s path and boom, there is traffic!
So what would be the usual causes of traffic? Per observation, the number of vehicles is a great contributor. If people have easy access on cars, then everybody can buy it and use it and cause more traffic. If the roads where bigger maybe it can reduce traffic, but that’s not the case in the urban areas where most lots are occupied already with buildings, houses and other infrastructures.
I’ve read somewhere that most personal cars are not energy efficient. This can lead to more expenses for the person which leads to great losses for the economy. Gas prices are quite high and for sure millions have been lost due to traffic congestion. Transportation expenses both personal and business will likely be high because of traffic. In another view, traffic may show that businesses are booming in the area. We’ll, hopefully that boom creates more opportunity and income for the business and community than its losses because of traffic.
If there would more buses instead of cars, then more space will be available, which may reduce traffic. A bus can carry at least 100 persons so that can reduce maybe 30 cars. But people love convenience so cars are there. That personal convenience may lead to community inconvenience and will go back to the person to cause inconvenience because of traffic.
Another observation for causes of traffic is road accident. This is so frustrating especially when you are already running late. Though it’s sad because a person may be in a life threatening situation, it become sadder that you will be affected with it… being late. Reckless driving, drunk driving, not following road rules may be the cause. In short, lack of discipline of these people.
The traffic lights are there to somehow mitigate the situation. Thanks to the colors of red, yellow and green, traffic maybe manage. I’ve tried travelling in urban cities without traffic lights… with only traffic enforcers. And guess what, the traffic is unfortunately mismanaged. Maybe because the traffic enforcer have biases in which direction they think deserve more time to move and not to move. Or maybe their estimate is not just accurate. I still appreciate them, but I guess traffic lights are more desirable because it is less biased and it can really estimate how long each side of the intersection needs to go.
I went to Singapore and the traffic there is well managed. Cars are limited (very expensive) and public transportation is very efficient. I also heard in Japan the same, with much disciplined people always observing traffic laws. I guess there infrastructures are also good and the discipline of the people really adds to the good situation in their area.
Well, we are stuck in our area so all we need to do is to get creative in beating the traffic. As much as possible, we avoid the rush hours. We go home early if needed and travel only as necessary. If we are really late, then we need to ride more mobile vehicles… motorcycles… Dangerous, but what can we do if we are running late? Haha So to avoid that, we need to plan our departure time to avoid the unnecessary expenses and danger. We can also plan to move in area where everything can be accessible by walking (food, work, and leisure). That would be great savings and exercise as well! Or you can always go to rural areas if you really want to avoid the traffic only if the situation is favorable for you.
If we are really stuck on traffic, well, we can always listen to music to sooth the pain of the traffic. Or we travel with someone so that we can chat and spend time building relationship amidst the traffic. Or we can reflect and make notes of our next tasks and to dos. Time is really being affected with traffic so let’s just work around and beat traffic. Traffic is real so we deal accordingly with it.
