Traffic!

Sooner or later we'll all have to face it, the horrors of every day traffic jams and a commute that doesn't seem to end. How do you deal with it? Do you simply accept that it is unavoidable, or are you the type who bitches about the same traffic jam every day, who is increasingly impatient and aggressive? Or do you prefer it all together by using public transport (if possible)?

I work in Brussels, so traffic jams have become a way of life. I just have to take one look outside in the morning to check the weather to know at what exact point I will get stuck these days. For the past months they were also working on the highway, so an average of an hour and a half for 20km was unavoidable. That being said, I have quite the short temper early in the morning, especially when I see traffic lining up in front of my door, so I tend to be a bit edgy early on. I know that there's nothing you can do about it, but it still helps to relieve some stress to bitch about it, or at the very least to get rid of my bad morning temper. Luckily I work long hours, so by the time I get back in the evening there's little traffic.

Unexpected traffic jams still manage to annoy me the most. The other day I was going home at 11 PM, and it took me two hours to drive the 20km distance, simply because some asshole couldn't manage to avoid a truck, blocking the entire road. You can see that everyone's on an edge in such a situation, and some people manage to get very impatient or aggressive, which really doesn't solve anything, but you simply can't help it.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I just stay home all the time. Traffic problems solved.

Actually I only work 6 miles away from home, and anytime I've got business to run I usually get it done/scheduled between 10a-2pm to avoid the traffic mess that is the beltway and all things related to it. Can't really say traffic has been a real concern of mine for the past few years. Even before I moved to where I am now I still lived about 10 minutes from work.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Working nights, I don't really have to worry about traffic too much. When I'm going to work, traffic's going the opposite direction (if there's any at all at 8:30pm) and when I'm on my way home it's all clear in my lane, too.

And yeah, making sure you do stuff between 10am and 2pm is really key. I do it all the time--except I usually skip out on noon if possible. Lunch traffic is bad.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I work 9-5 about 15-20 miles away from my home. I deal with both rush hour and highway traffic.

People in Massachusetts are notoriously awful drivers. You're either aggressive and speedy or you're slow and retarded. Not that slow is particularly bad in and of itself, but when you don't know the goddamn rules of the motherfucking road, you shouldn't be driving because YOU are causing the traffic jams.

I will go out of my way to avoid heavily-congested areas, but not too far out of my way. I will consider going down an exit further than I have to just to backtrack on back roads. I get extremely frustrated when I get stuck in traffic because people have no clue how to deal with shit.

The one time you never, ever, ever want to be on the highways in New England is the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. You will literally be in a parking lot from Stockbridge to Boston. You have to know your way around to skirt that kind of traffic.

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Oregon traffic is pretty horrible on the Big Three highways (I-5, I-84, I-205). I live in a state that gets rain 3/4 of the year. Yet when there's even a slight bit of moisture on the ground, everyone drops 25mph under the speed limit. Not only that, but because Oregon drivers are TOO courteous, noone knows how to merge properly and junctions get jammed up something fierce.

I work 8-5 M-F, so I get to deal with rush hour going home/to class.

I was speaking idiomatically.

If people would wise up and live close to where they work, or perhaps sacrifice a little and choose a job within closer proximity, it wouldn't be so bad for folks.

I know this is kind of a harsh thing to say given the current economy and job market, but it's not like traffic jams started in 2008.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

My current city has barely any traffic, though to hear people who live here tell it, you'd think it was utterly clogged. I wish people had to drive somewhere like Montreal for a year before they could drive here. Insufferably bad drivers.

Anyway, no traffic but I live a six minute walk from my job, so... yeah. Metal.

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I currently commute about 30 minutes each way for work, whenever I do have to go to the office. Luckily where I live and where I work is located such that my commutes are opposite that of rush hour traffic, so I always get the lighter side of traffic.

Otherwise, I have been working from home for the most part.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Traffic in the DC area is some of the worst in the country. I can't even fathom driving into work downtown from my apartment, because I-66 is a parking lot from where I'd get on (and that's 9 miles from the Beltway). Around here, you either take public transportation or get to work at 5am to beat the traffic. Living close to work isn't feasible around here, given the cost of an apartment remotely close to downtown. It's almost better to live further out, at the end of a Metro line, because if you don't get on at the end, you won't get a seat.

It's kind of a no-win around here. Either you live out in West Virginia with a nice house and a 2+ hour commute, or you have a tiny apartment shared with 4 people within walking distance of a Metro.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

DC area represent. I can vouch for the traffic snarls. I managed to snag an apartment out of the city but just across the river from my office, so I don't have to drive. Although I'm a big fan of our Metro system, the distance is only 2 miles, so I walk.

There's a bridge I cross every day, and I'm routinely outpacing cars in the morning. Sure, it takes me about 40 minutes to hoof it in to work, but I'd rather walk 40 or Metro 30 than drive 10 in city traffic.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I live in a relatively small city so traffic is nowhere near as bad as most of you guys in metropolitan areas. Having said that, my drive to work is still about an hour long every day to the magazine where I work and then another hour to work at the high school. I'd say I spend about 3 hours a day just driving in my car. This isn't bad when you got some dope tunes but it's still quite a pain.

About the only snag I have is a 5 mile stretch of road I have to drive to every day that's a narrow-ass two-lane road heavily laden with freight traffic and I am always very paranoid of getting sandwiched between two haulers because it's like those fuckers forgot the rule about tailgating.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

It takes me four minutes to drive to work on a bad day. It's probably about two and a half miles but I'm going the opposite way to all the through traffic so I only have to stop three times on the whole journey, once to turn left out of my road onto the main road, once to turn right at a junction that's always busy but at which everyone filters nicely and lets you out then right again into the country lane that leads to the Opera House.

Here's my drive to work. You can use Streetview to check out the rather lovely rural journey I have.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Denicalis

My current city has barely any traffic, though to hear people who live here tell it, you'd think it was utterly clogged. I wish people had to drive somewhere like Montreal for a year before they could drive here. Insufferably bad drivers.

Anyway, no traffic but I live a six minute walk from my job, so... yeah. Metal.

Quoted for truth. Montreal is incredibad for idotic driving.

Now, I mostly just go to University during the day with my car, so I miss out on the rush hour fun times. If I'm going anywhere at rush hour, I know that the metro is mostly the only way to go.

When I do drive however, I'm sure to always at least see one each of the following:

- People who switch lanes without their signal light at the last second right in front of you because they didn't realize the guy in front of them was gonna have to wait to turn left.

- Cutting across two lanes to get into a turning lane, again with no signal light

- Guy (or gal) who sees the yellow light from the last intersection and steps on it to make the light, thouroughly burning the red.

- 'hazard lights give me the right to park wherever I want, be it in the middle lane' guy (or gal)

- Someone who sees yellow, yet still decides to go across the intersection, even though the next light is red and there's a line of cars almost to the intersection, thus blocking of the intersection for perpendicular traffic as the light inevitably becomes green for them

The list could probably go on for a quite a while, but that's what I could think of off the top of my head. Now, keep in mind, this is just on a single street that doesn't even get that much traffic at the times when I'm using it. Downtown rush hours are even more crazy, though I haven't lived them too many times.

I was speaking idiomatically.