What Gawking at an Accident Does to the Flow of Traffic (version 2)
There are multiple ways to tell the same story. Take the driving "adventure" in my last entry. My original version sounds like it belongs in an installment of the SNL skit "The Californians." I should be able to make the same rant with less specificity about my location. And go...
I see all sorts of driving habits on my daily commute. When it comes to the balance between fairness and entitlement, the selfish option usually wins. And when people try to benefit themselves, they usually hurt the common good. Let me provide an example.
On Tuesday afternoon, an accident caused a backup in my lane of traffic. However, this was not a typical situation. First, my lane was divided from the main road. As we inched along, three lanes of traffic cruised along at 70 mph to our left. Second, since three lanes of traffic (both directions of an interstate plus one local road) merge into one before joining the main highway, a regular rush hour is prone to stop and go bottlenecks. The accident happened near the end of the divided road and multiplied the congestion. Third, the location of the accident was on a frontage road on the other side of a chain link fence. That's right--it wasn't even on the road I was driving.
Now that the scene is set, let's move a mile up the road on the same divided lane where two lanes of traffic cross paths at a cloverleaf interchange. The fair method in such an intersection is an alternating pattern like a zipper. As I came down the ramp unaware of the accident, I noticed vehicles moving much slower than usual, even stopping. And I watched as some vehicles from my lane forced themselves into this stopped lane and prevented the other lane from crossing over. It was so bad that a radio traffic report announced backups extending 3 miles to previous major intersection. When I reached the bottom of the ramp, I stopped and waved several vehicles through the gap before advancing myself. That helped balance the traffic pattern for a bit, but other drivers quickly messed it up again.
Situations like this are so frustrating, and I am just one cog in the system. I have very little effect on the whole situation. If only everyone could see the big picture, we all might move better. Then again, we'd also need to stop human nature to rubberneck at the sight of tragedy.
I see all sorts of driving habits on my daily commute. When it comes to the balance between fairness and entitlement, the selfish option usually wins. And when people try to benefit themselves, they usually hurt the common good. Let me provide an example.
On Tuesday afternoon, an accident caused a backup in my lane of traffic. However, this was not a typical situation. First, my lane was divided from the main road. As we inched along, three lanes of traffic cruised along at 70 mph to our left. Second, since three lanes of traffic (both directions of an interstate plus one local road) merge into one before joining the main highway, a regular rush hour is prone to stop and go bottlenecks. The accident happened near the end of the divided road and multiplied the congestion. Third, the location of the accident was on a frontage road on the other side of a chain link fence. That's right--it wasn't even on the road I was driving.
Now that the scene is set, let's move a mile up the road on the same divided lane where two lanes of traffic cross paths at a cloverleaf interchange. The fair method in such an intersection is an alternating pattern like a zipper. As I came down the ramp unaware of the accident, I noticed vehicles moving much slower than usual, even stopping. And I watched as some vehicles from my lane forced themselves into this stopped lane and prevented the other lane from crossing over. It was so bad that a radio traffic report announced backups extending 3 miles to previous major intersection. When I reached the bottom of the ramp, I stopped and waved several vehicles through the gap before advancing myself. That helped balance the traffic pattern for a bit, but other drivers quickly messed it up again.
Situations like this are so frustrating, and I am just one cog in the system. I have very little effect on the whole situation. If only everyone could see the big picture, we all might move better. Then again, we'd also need to stop human nature to rubberneck at the sight of tragedy.