Are YOU causing traffic jams? You might be and not know it.

[ussfletcher]

Also one of my pet peeves.
In Greenville SC, there's one interchange (I-85S to I-385) with an exit-only lane that tends to slow as it approaches the interchange. All four lanes are frequently dragged to a dead crawl by drivers in the far left lane running full speed right up to the interchange then jamming their way across two lanes and forcing into the exit lane at the last moment.
The compression waves they trigger back up the interstate leave drivers coming to a dead stop three or four times, for no immediately obvious reason.
I'm sure every metropolitan area has similar problem areas.

Thus, I do that too, in order to avoid sitting in the right lane for a mile. But South Carolina has some of the stupidest traffic laws and worst drivers of anywhere I've ever been, that doesn't help.

 

[nageov3t]

I believe that after they die, rubber-neckers will be forced to watch ugly people having sex in hell for the rest of eternity.

 

[ussfletcher]

Wow, I'm glad they took all that time to state the obvious. The reversible lane thing is intriguing though, I hadn't heard of that before.

Also, US-23 does not merge with I-75 anywhere near Detroit. Toledo, maybe. No idea what that's about.

Yeah, I have no idea about that either. Though that's not to say that we don't have heavily congested areas, but they got mixed up with names.
Nothing is worse then I-75 on holiday weekends though. Nothing. 5-6 hours to travel 100 miles.

 

[MotF Bane]

I believe that after they die, rubber-neckers will be forced to watch ugly people having sex in hell for the rest of eternity.

Or perhaps they'll be forced to watch beautiful people having sex, but be unable to touch themselves. :hmm:

 

[SandEagle]

maybe tweeting will help
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41921790/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/

 

[ViviTheMage]

That whole "reversible" lanes concepts sound like a very VERY bad idea.

They do it in canada afaik...doesn't seem like a bad idea at all.

They do :

https://www.tc.gc.ca/innovation/its/eng/architecture/service_packages/detail/atms18.htm

I am sure someone that lives there can confirm.

 

[HeXen]

too many cars on the road, coupled with driver habits, attention spans..etc all on roads that were designed by people who didn't realize there would be millions more drivers per year in addition to.

eventually it would seem that at some point, half the population won't have room on any road to drive period.

 

[IronWing]

That whole "reversible" lanes concepts sound like a very VERY bad idea.

We used to have suicide lanes in Tucson. I lived half a block off of one of the roads with reversible lanes. In morning rush the center lane went one direction, the other in the afternoon, and was the left turn lane the rest of the time. It was like an alarm clock. Every day at 4pm sharp one could hear the honking and the screeching tires as those who wanted to jump in the reversible lane encountered those still making left turns. Accidents minimum of weekly.

The first time in town I ended driving a couple miles past my destination as I couldn't ever turn left and it took me a bit to catch on to the system. Lots of turning around in corner parking lots.

Phoenix still has at least one road with reversible lanes.

 

[AstroManLuca]

When we lived in Minneapolis we were a one car family, my wife took the bus to work. Since we've moved to the suburbs she now has her own car and she's much happier. No more standing in the freezing sleet and a foot of snow waiting for the bus, only to be surround by the degenerates of society who are spitting in the aisle, acting like thugs, talking about all the people in whom they have "popped caps", etc. Screw public transportation, leave it to the poor.

As for traffic, I've always been suspicious of that "wave effect" they talked about, and imagine it's due to assholes who don't know how to drive with other people. Dumbasses that drive too fast, too slow, tailgate, speed up quickly then slam on the brakes rather than maintaining a more constant speed.

Yeah, this is completely true for Minnesota. Taking the bus is a TERRIBLE alternative to driving a car in the Twin Cities. Waiting for a bus in below-zero weather sucks ass. Then having to share it with the creepy, smelly, and probably mentally unstable people who also take the bus sucks. And it takes forever to get anywhere by bus. Pretty reliably takes longer than driving there in bad rush hour traffic, especially if there are transfers.

There are certain places you just can't go. Basically if you're more than a few miles from the city center, you'll have to make a bunch of transfers and wait a really long time because buses don't run that often. And they don't run past a certain time, so you can get stuck if you are out too late.

You still need to keep a car around for going more than a short distance or if you have to bring more stuff than you can carry with your own two hands, so you usually can't totally cut out car-related expenses. Taking the bus isn't even that cheap; unless you do it a lot or go on long trips it's not that much cheaper than paying for gas, certainly not by enough to be worth the extra time and hassle.

 

[CPA]

That whole "reversible" lanes concepts sound like a very VERY bad idea.

Washington DC has used it for decades.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

Depends on how it's done, on the Southeast Expressway (or parking lot) outside of Boston, they use what's a called a zipper lane:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zipper_lane

I don't drive it often, maybe daily commuters on that road can comment on if they think it helps?

having an extra lane where and when you know traffic is heavier certainly helps. i think it's more effective than HOV lanes.

even better would be having highways that weren't designed by chimps. whoever built these roads should be sentenced to drive on them

 

[HeXen]

Washington DC has used it for decades.

isnt that confusing for people out of state? either way, i think its all going to get worse before it gets better.
what we really need is cars that can drive themselves and talk to each other. so all cars are in sync on the road. kinda like in the Minority Report.

 

[zerocool84]

I've only driven on 1 highway on that list. I live in So Cal and I thought the 405 was bad until I was up in San Fransisco, it was so bad it made me wish I was on the 405. And according to the list it's only #5. SF was easily 2-3x worse than the 405.

Yup, SanFran is MUCH worse. I go up there very often. It's mostly because SanFran is such a small area that too many people are trying to get into a tiny area. I went to DC this past summer and traffic there is even worse than it is here. People always assume LA area has the worst traffic. It's bad but no where near the worst. LA area is more spread out than any of those places on the list.

 

[Triumph]

That whole "reversible" lanes concepts sound like a very VERY bad idea.

Actually no, there's no logical reason to believe that at all. On a typical non-divided roadway, what's the difference between 2 north, 2 south, and 3 north 1 south? They're just lines painted on the road. It works very well in Pittsburgh, they don't do it enough around here in the Northern Virginia area, though. At least not on my normal routes.

 

[HeXen]

Actually no, there's no logical reason to believe that at all. On a typical non-divided roadway, what's the difference between 2 north, 2 south, and 3 north 1 south? They're just lines painted on the road. It works very well in Pittsburgh, they don't do it enough around here in the DC area, though.

i get it now. most of the typical highways in my area are divided, is why i was having a hard time thinking how it could work.

 

[tcsenter]

Also, US-23 does not merge with I-75 anywhere near Detroit. Toledo, maybe. No idea what that's about.

Just south of Flint.

 

[Engineer]

isnt that confusing for people out of state? either way, i think its all going to get worse before it gets better.
what we really need is cars that can drive themselves and talk to each other. so all cars are in sync on the road. kinda like in the Minority Report.

Might be. There are LED panels that have a red X, green arrow or yellow turn indication to let you know which way the lanes are going (look above the Jeep Cherokee in the photo). If you are from out of town and they suddenly change on you, it could be confusing.

 

[Bignate603]

The cause of traffic jams is this:

(a passenger in a subway or tram car takes up even less road space)

The personal car is supposed to be about freedom, but automobile dependency is not freedom of choice. You have no choice but to take the car and endure hours of traffic jams every day.

The car is great for some things, but it's not ideal for rapidly moving lots of people at once via a fixed route from point a to point b.

I really wish I could take public transit to work, but the way they do it here in Phoenix it's pretty much useless. It would turn my 15 minute commute into something over an hour.

 

[HeXen]

i wish we had a maglev system around town.

 

[rcpratt]

Just south of Flint.

Yeah, that's what they're talking about. Even farther from Detroit though.

 

[shopbruin]

I've only driven on 1 highway on that list. I live in So Cal and I thought the 405 was bad until I was up in San Fransisco, it was so bad it made me wish I was on the 405. And according to the list it's only #5. SF was easily 2-3x worse than the 405.

No f'ing way. I lived in both places, and the 405 is the worst by 100 times.

Think 405/101 interchange. Hell.
405/10 interchange, where for some stupid reason, five lanes squished into three. Double hell. (This is slowly being fixed.)
405 around LAX. Hell.
405/90 used to be on here until the carpool lane opened.

The fact that I lived one exit away from the 405/10 interchange. Quadruple hell.

What also sucked - the 10 East at the 110. I've wanted to kill people in that area.

You're comparing driving in the city of SF to driving the freeways of LA. The freeways of LA are packed hell. The city streets of SF are a completely different story.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

No f'ing way. I lived in both places, and the 405 is the worst by 100 times.

Think 405/101 interchange. Hell.

What also sucked - the 10 East at the 110. I've wanted to kill people in that area.

i've driven through there. easily the worst traffic i saw in 2 weeks!

 

[IcePickFreak]

I've been through Chicago quite a few times over the years, but I'd always avoid rush hour times/days. The interstate through Milwaukee is enough for me. Combined with the current construction (ok, last effort, this shit is always under construction) it makes some areas frustrating.

I just got back into town about an hour ago from a 400 mile round trip to northern Wisconsin and it was fun to drive on the 2 lane rural highways. 65mph speed limit with little traffic, and if you did encounter traffic everyone understood to keep right and pass on the left.

 

[BillGates]

The REAL cause of traffic jams:

1. Women
2. Buicks

 

[JulesMaximus]

I can't believe Los Angeles didn't make the top 10. Detriot? I thought only black people lived there.