You arent stuck in traffic, you are the traffic.

Scarronline@lemmy.world to Showerthoughts@lemmy.world – 569 points –
98

Yeah but some people are more traffic than others.

insert lifted truck hogging 2 lanes

insert soccer moms with massive SUVs

Lol

Insert the guy in a Prius going 30 mph under the speed limit and slamming on his brakes for no reason.

Insert everyone in the passing lane that isn't passing.

What is this "passing lane" of which you speak? All I've ever seen in America is the fast lane and the slow lane(s).

The left lane is supposed to be for passing only.

And if everyone wasn't so fucking slow it could just be the passing lane.

And passing is still according to the speed limit.

It's really not. If you're driving the speed limit in the left lane when you could practically be in any other lane you're an asshole. What you're doing is legal, but you're still a dick.

Okay, so only use the left lane when you're passing. Speed limit has nothing to do with it.

Nope. You see there are two realities. One where the DOT exists and they write traffic laws for. Then there's the reality the rest of us are living in. Cops are not behind every bush or blade of grass so adherence to the rules is an optional behaviour.

People dogmatically sticking to the speed limit while there's a line of cars behind them are the worst type of narcissistic asshole. Even if they don't want to speed, they can pull over and let the rest of us pass them. But they don't. Because that would mean feeling shame and they have none.

Mfs hitting they brakes because they TAPPED the speed limit and dont want to go over

And all these far lane fucks that hold up an entire line of traffic because they want to pull into the far lane and can't comprehend using the close lane to pick up speed to just get over

Honestly “soccer mom” is probably a better use of street capacity than most usage of cars. One adult and six kids in a Suburban is much more efficient than three adults each with two kids in the back of three sedans.

True, but the vehicle in all likelihood was purchased out of "fuck you i'm rich/leveraged to the tits, I deserve a gas guzzler the likes of which Mansa Musa would find ostentatious" mentality.

While it’s probably true that most oversized SUVs are owned by people that don’t need them, “soccer mom” specifically refers to someone that would need that space, since they’re the one that drives their kids (and their friends) to and from soccer practice.

It's insane that anyone needs to drive their kids on a regular basis (unless they actually live rurally) though

It's insane that anyone needs to drive their kids on a regular basis

I take it you didn’t have a very active childhood.

kids here get around mostly by e-scooter/bike or bus, though obviously not e-scooters before a couple years ago.

It's so much nicer for everyone, the kids get freedom and to hang out with their friends while travelling, parents save money and time by not driving needlessly, and everyone else gets fewer cars on the road.

Most “soccer moms” only transporting a couple times a week at max capacity. Rest of the time it’s solo travel between work/groceries/“me time”. 💀

Even though your downvotes pale in comparison to your upvotes, who tf can disagree with this statement?

🚘 🧠 people, I guess. Most people are just born/live in areas where it’s nearly impossible to get around their area that’s not by a personal vehicle.

Getting groceries? Hop in the truck/SUV, drive 5+ miles to grocery store

Want to eat out? Hop into the SUV/truck, drive 10+ miles to restaurant

Visit friends? Hop into the SUV/truck, drive 10+ mi to friends house in the exurbs (and they already live in the suburbs 💀)

Going to work? Hop into the SUV/truck, drive 20+ mi to work.

Going to the bars? Call a rideshare, pay $50+ for one ride, get drunk. Most people probably think they can still drive while under the influence and get home safe.

Only describing 1-way travel, by the way.

These people trying to imagine there’s a more scalable and safer way to transport people is a foreign concept in their mind — despite the rest of the planet figuring out how to properly move people.

One photo of a truck hogging two lanes and I’ll believe it’s something you didn’t just make up.

drive on southern roads long enough. you will encounter them. Either they have 0 awareness that they are driving in 2 lanes (or swerving between lanes); or they are deliberately doing it to be assholes

Either way. Fuck them

If you swerve in and out of lanes to try to get ahead, you can be traffic for an easy 3 or 4 lanes!

Love the peeps that risk killing everyone around them to get ten feet ahead in bumper to bumper traffic.

And only end up being farther back than if they had just stayed put, as everybody else had the same thought, making the new lane the slower one.

And even if it doesn't, they lose any time they could have possibly gained the moment they get off the highway and hit a red light.

90% of the time the bumper to bumper traffic only exists because some fuck taps their breaks every 15 seconds

If everyone was to the right like they should be these idiots wouldn't be able to weave in and out to get ahead.

If I'm stuck in rush-hour traffic on a 65mph limit interstate going 5 miles an hour in the left lane, I'll be God damned if I'm going to move over to the right lane so someone can pass me. An emergency vehicle? Sure. But some asshat that is swerving in and out of every lane just to try to get a few cars ahead? Fuck 'em.

If by stuck you mean there is a car in front of you preventing you from passing then that's fine but there's someone way up at the front of that who's not passing like they're supposed to that's causing the whole mess in the first place. My comment was directed at them.

More likely, wayyyy at the head is the chokepoint in the infrastructure that is making everyone try to get over at the same time and causing a build up of traffic behind them.

Yes, sometimes it is idiotic drivers, but I find more often than not it is the engineers or the limits of the area the road is built in that add chokepoints that fuck everything over.

"Oh. Everyone wants to take this exit? Make it a short one lane into a red light. That won't fuck over the highway"

It's amazing how much a little natural geography can completely fuck up traffic. There's a spot in Denver where I-25 shifts slightly, maybe 5 degrees. But I'll be damned if that tiny little change in direction isn't enough to make someone going the speed limit tap their brakes just for a second. Rippled over thousands of cars during rush hour, it creates a bottle neck almost every single day at that exact spot. I'm sure planning an interstate is a nightmare of a task, just knowing that even the slightest deviation from absolutely straight is going to fuck everything up for decades.

Just one more lane bro and we fix traffic, trust me.

I think people downvoting this didn't spot the sarcasm.

Induced demand is a myth. https://www.cato.org/blog/debunking-induced-demand-myth

Adding more lanes does improve throughput even if congestion is still a problem.

But that's literally what induced demand is. More lanes might mean more throughput but it's still jammed because more people make the decision to use that road. Wow.

More throughout is the goal, and you admit this is achieved, but still claim there's no reason to expand. Wow indeed.

4 more...

Oh good. This is gonna be just like reddit. Things that are literally decades old.

1 more...

You aren't shitposting in Lemmy, you ARE the Lemmy!

Nah, I am the main character. The world happens to me, get these NPCs out of my way.

Jesus Christ has come for his second resurrection, and his name is Intl

We do not live in a society. We are a society. 😔

And you can actively choose to better or worsen society, just like you can choose to better or worsen traffic. Vote for legislation to improve public transit. #fuckcars

So then what’s happening when I drive and there’s no traffic? Am I nothing???!

Youre never “nothing”… youre always something special! I promise :)

Example: when there is no traffic, youre still a noise & particulate generator that lowers property values, warms our planet, and makes the built environment more hostile/dangerous and depressing for everyone nearby.

Whew thank god. Who cares if I’m ruining everything as long as I exist!

Okay, how do I get to my job then without encountering all of the passive aggression? Lol. Maybe car haters should be attacking the systems that made it impossible to live within walking distance of our places of employment: capitalism, city zoning, and substandard wages for a start. Otherwise, you're just complaining about the rain when you should have been pulling out an umbrella.

Completely agree! Its why in addition to making relatively lighthearted insults on the internet, i actually advocate for such changes by regularly attending government meetings and contacting my elected representatives.

Hell, just this week, i participated in a meeting to change my city’s zoning code to allow more density, wrote to all of my representatives (granted this week, my email to them was about the lack of worker protections associated with PTO…) and researched all the agenda items for the upcoming city development and transportation meetings.

If there is anything im missing that would help advocate for such changes, im all ears! No really… i actually enjoy going to these meetings as dull as that sounds and would love to know more! Its been kind of an emerging hobby for me lol.

Its the dryest and dullest thing ever, but for some reason, ive been really into that! As a perk, the people watching at such meetings is amazing. Id love for more people to experience the wonders that is a local government meeting.

Been working remote since onset of pandemic. Never going back to the office bro. Couldn't pay me enough to share the roads with the rest of the grinders.

So many hours wasted in traffic.

Meanwhile i quite enjoyed my commute to school on a 20-30 minute bus, it's quite unparalleled to begin your day gazing out the windows at a foggy morning countryside.

I hated it in high school. I just hated waking up early af. Was so glad to get a car and license. Then come college, I loved it again. Getting a parking permit, going into traffic with other people was a pain.

Moved to a place that was near a college bus route, never had to get a parking permit or get into traffic. Take the bus and relax.

I had to go into the office throughout the pandemic and I agree. All the rest of you stay home and leave the roads clear for me.

mmm yes, the traffic is made out of traffic

hqdefault_1

"I'm stuck in traffic" implies they aren't part of it but that it is something that is happening to them.

You're not stuck in it, you are it.

They're not mutually exclusive states. You can be part of the traffic, but if you can't get out, you're still stuck in it. You're part of traffic but not stuck in it if and only if you have the opportunity to exit the traffic experience.

Now I'm stuck in the damn traffic that I've helped damn create. Dammit!

Part of the ship

Part of the crew, part of the ship, part of the crew, part of the ship, part of the crew, part of the ship.