Discussion Fuck traffic.

[Ben]

I have been stuck in traffic around Littleton, MA for literally 2 hours.

I'm so close to getting past what I think is causing it, but now I just see more accidents heading away.

I would have been home around 7:40pm. Current eta is 9:40pm.

 

[dimmerwit]

I just looked up the crash that caused it and yeah, cars aren't supposed to bend like that.

 

[Ben]

I just looked up the crash that caused it and yeah, cars aren't supposed to bend like that.

Huh. I'll see it in 3 hours when I get there

 

[Ben]

I did worry it would be bad,, though

 

[Crystal]

Aww, hopefully you're able to get around it soon. Traffic definitely sucks in situations like this.

 

[dimmerwit]

Crash closes I-495 south in Littleton - Boston News, Weather, Sports | WHDH 7News

LITTLETON, MASS. (WHDH) - I-495 southbound is closed in Littleton due to a car crash near exit 79.Officials say a medical helicopter has been called<a class="excerpt-read-more" href="https://whdh.com/news/crash-closes-i-495-south-in-littleton/">Read More</a>

whdh.com

For your later perusal.

 

[shortkut]

View attachment 26265

I have been stuck in traffic around Littleton, MA for literally 2 hours.

I'm so close to getting past what I think is causing it, but now I just see more accidents heading away.

I would have been home around 7:40pm. Current eta is 9:40pm.

Tell me about it. I have been driving in NYC traffic for close to 20 years.

• I used to commute 45 miles out to Long Island for work and have had it take over 4 hours once
• When I lived off the cross Bronx expressway, not far from the apartments, I had a 2.8 mile commute and had it take over an hour on multiple occasions
• I was stuck in the traffic from this accident for many hours https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Taconic_State_Parkway_crash as well another accident in the same location one winter when my wife (girlfriend/fiancée at the time) and I had no heat in the car. We watched multiple episodes of house I had downloaded on my laptop during that winter traffic
• When the bomb cyclone winter storm hit the Philadelphia area in early 2018, my 10-15 minute commute home from work took over 4 hours due to the poor visibility and road closures.

 

[dimmerwit]

• I was stuck in the traffic from this accident for many hours https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Taconic_State_Parkway_crash as well another accident in the same location one winter when my wife (girlfriend/fiancée at the time) and I had no heat in the car. We watched multiple episodes of house I had downloaded on my laptop during that winter traffic

Wow, that wiki page went places. An amazing demonstration of collective denial.

I'm lucky to be able to commute via the tube on the few occasions that I do so these days.

 

[Ben]

So, whole time I was sitting in the middle lane, it wasn't moving fast but more than the right lane. Left was moving more but I saw no chance to move over.

I got to a spot where a semi truck was stopped in the shoulder. Just then a cop car came up behind it whooping, and everyone in the left lane started shoving over. I, mostly trying to get out of the way, indicated to the left and stuck my nose in when a space formed.

Car in front didn't really move up as much as I hoped so my ass was still in the other lane, but fuck it I was moving over for the cop. Well the guy behind me got pissy and drove around me into the middle lane. Didn't catch if he was talking shit, but it was an old white guy.

Well left lane started moving again and he got stuck in my spot in the middle lane. He may still be there. Karma.

Anyway, I stopped after a few service plazas to get food. Still got 40 minutes on my drive home.

 

[Ben]

Oh, and at the spot of the crash, everything was already long cleared. It was just people at that exit clogging the entire right two lanes.

 

[dimmerwit]

Seems like someone decided to cross the median and drive on the wrong side of the road.

I'm surprised it wasn't you!

 

[Benzine]

fuck

 

[Benzine]

that

 

[Benzine]

if i had a low powered genie, my third wish would be to be able to tell everyone on the same stretch of road as me to accelerate at the same time and they have to trust me

 

[Ben]

if i had a low powered genie, my third wish would be to be able to tell everyone on the same stretch of road as me to accelerate at the same time and they have to trust me

Yes. Absolutely.

I tried my hardest to just creep along at 5 mph when everything was at a stand-still, I guess right after it happened. It was so stop/start that I'd still always catch up to the car in front of me. Never got that "ease everyone into it" and clear the wave of braking.

I should have remembered I was in Massachusetts and just shoved my ass over into the left lane right away. I bet I would have been through it in about 30 minutes as opposed to 2 hours... It just seems like everyone got Waze rerouted directions taking them off of some exit to try to go around, but everyone was trying to do that. It seemed all the roads around those exits, residential or small commercial roads, were just clogged with more fucks than normal.

I bet it was all fuckers who didn't get over sooner into the left lane that needed to take that exit, that then just kept the middle lane stuck, since no one could really merge to the left and get around him since the stream of traffic in the fast lane was pretty continual. But no one in the exit lane wanted to yield and let this cunt who waited until the last moment to merge in, meaning they're just fucking everyone up.

 

[Nae'blis]

Fuck those fucking fuckers.

Road rage is real. If there's one thing I get mad about it's people who don't know how to behave in traffic.

 

[Crazy Jamie]

I am so glad that post pandemic a lot of my court hearings and conferences are remote. You lose such a ridiculous amount of time to work travel and the commute, and as much as you can listen to a podcast, or read or work on a train, it's rarely productive time and it also isn't restful. It takes it out of you. The same is true of the school run. My parents (usually my mum) spent two hours every school day running my sister to and from school. Which I am very grateful for because it was to ensure that we were educated at very good schools, but that is just so much time. Our youngest goes to nursery a five minute walk from our house, the primary school our other two go to is a fifteen minute cycle or 7-8 minute drive, and they will all go to a secondary school that is either literally over the road from our house, or a different one that is still cycling or no more than 10 minutes drive. Frankly, that saved time is valuable for all of them as well as for us.

My sincerest sympathies to all of you that have to endure regular commutes or work travelling. Especially if, as has been the case over here for a lot of people, it's as a result of pressure from certain companies and the government to encourage employers to get employees back into the physical workplace, when they really don't need to, at least as a blanket policy.

 

[dimmerwit]

In a related vein I see that New York has become the latest place to implement a congestion charge.

I've almost always lived somewhere with one, so it's actually quite odd to think about there not being one. The London charge is £15 per day now, not that I'd ever willingly drive into central London.

 

[The Eye in the Sky!]

That's why I refuse to work at or east of the 495 belt. One accident will ruin your day. The side roads are just as congested as the highways out there, so diverting traffic will stall everyone within the metrowest area.

I work one town east of Worcester and that is the furthest east I'll go because of the overpopulation and lack of alternate routes. My normal commute is 45 minutes, I've only ever had a handful in 15 years that were longer than an hour, and that is usually due to a snow storm.

 

[A Fifth of a Million]

That's why I refuse to work at or east of the 495 belt. One accident will ruin your day. The side roads are just as congested as the highways out there, so diverting traffic will stall everyone within the metrowest area.

I work one town east of Worcester and that is the furthest east I'll go because of the overpopulation and lack of alternate routes. My normal commute is 45 minutes, I've only ever had a handful in 15 years that were longer than an hour, and that is usually due to a snow storm.

Working east of 495 means you should either be on mass transit or work from home (or work in a place where you don't need the highway).

Anyone else is doing it wrong.

 

[Mark]

Crash closes I-495 south in Littleton - Boston News, Weather, Sports | WHDH 7News

LITTLETON, MASS. (WHDH) - I-495 southbound is closed in Littleton due to a car crash near exit 79.Officials say a medical helicopter has been called<a class="excerpt-read-more" href="https://whdh.com/news/crash-closes-i-495-south-in-littleton/">Read More</a>

whdh.com

For your later perusal.

You’re the chief search engine operator of this place, I swear.

Tell me about it. I have been driving in NYC traffic for close to 20 years.

Fuck NYC traffic, but, after spending time dealing with that and DC traffic, I’ll say DC might be worse if you’re including the metro area of it the same way you’re including Long Island in with downtown as a combined clusterfuck.

if i had a low powered genie, my third wish would be to be able to tell everyone on the same stretch of road as me to accelerate at the same time and they have to trust me

That’s what infuriates me about traffic. 99.9% of all slow-downs (don’t fact check me on that number, @dimmerwit , I just made it up) wouldn’t happen if people were able to collectively maintain the same speed. That 2mph you lose slightly letting weight off of the accelerator to reach over for your rotisserie half-chicken so it doesn’t fly off of the seat multiplies with every vehicle behind you.

That's why I refuse to work at or east of the 495 belt. One accident will ruin your day. The side roads are just as congested as the highways out there, so diverting traffic will stall everyone within the metrowest area.

I work one town east of Worcester and that is the furthest east I'll go because of the overpopulation and lack of alternate routes. My normal commute is 45 minutes, I've only ever had a handful in 15 years that were longer than an hour, and that is usually due to a snow storm.

Hey, y’all have a 495 up there, too? Ours sucks as well. I’ve heard some horror stories about Boston traffic, though. Most were from a friend that lived there when they were “burying” that interstate through the city or whatever it was.

 

[A Fifth of a Million]

Most were from a friend that lived there when they were “burying” that interstate through the city or whatever it was.

The Big Dig? Yeah traffic was even shittier before it and during it than it is now. But that also doesn't have much of an impact on 495. 93 mostly, 95 somewhat.

 

[Crazy Jamie]

That’s what infuriates me about traffic. 99.9% of all slow-downs (don’t fact check me on that number, @dimmerwit , I just made it up) wouldn’t happen if people were able to collectively maintain the same speed. That 2mph you lose slightly letting weight off of the accelerator to reach over for your rotisserie half-chicken so it doesn’t fly off of the seat multiplies with every vehicle behind you.

Yep. Fundamentally it's down to speed and distance. People drive too fast for the conditions and drive too close to the car in front. When you have a queue of traffic in front of a red light and the light turns green, do all of the cars start moving at the same time? No, they don't. Because it takes each car a moment to react to the one in front moving. By the time you get to the car that's ten back from the front, the first car is a significant distance away. Traffic jams work exactly the same way, but in reverse. The car in front brakes, but the one behind brakes harder to a slower speed, the one behind does the same and so on, until the cars are at a standstill. If people drove slower and left more of a gap they'd be able to better react to changes in front of them and you wouldn't have nearly as many traffic jams.

My parents founded a company based on advanced driver training and motor risk management, which became quite successful. Suffice to say I've heard a lot of conversations about this sort of thing. They lobbied for, and were successful in getting a reasonably notable change to the way that speeding offences are dealt with. Anyone who drives is at least aware of that change, and there's a good chance they've experienced it directly. It's a low key dull yet kind of interesting conversation piece to tell people that my parents caused that change.

 

[dimmerwit]

That’s what infuriates me about traffic. 99.9% of all slow-downs (don’t fact check me on that number, @dimmerwit , I just made it up) wouldn’t happen if people were able to collectively maintain the same speed. That 2mph you lose slightly letting weight off of the accelerator to reach over for your rotisserie half-chicken so it doesn’t fly off of the seat multiplies with every vehicle behind you.

Sorry, but the actual figure is 99.8% according to the study called "Better Understanding of Lifesaving Laws and Safe Habits in Traffic".

My parents founded a company based on advanced driver training and motor risk management, which became quite successful. Suffice to say I've heard a lot of conversations about this sort of thing. They lobbied for, and were successful in getting a reasonably notable change to the way that speeding offences are dealt with. Anyone who drives is at least aware of that change, and there's a good chance they've experienced it directly. It's a low key dull yet kind of interesting conversation piece to tell people that my parents caused that change.

Yeah yeah I know of this change I do not know of this change help!

 

[Crazy Jamie]

Yeah yeah I know of this change I do not know of this change help!

Speed awareness courses. My parents convinced the government that simply giving points for speeding offences didn't work, and speed awareness courses were brought in as a result. My parents' company actually ran those courses, and technically still does. Obviously you've never attended one, but if you did they're run by the AA, but the logo on the documentation reads "the AA by Drivetech". Drivetech was one of the main competitors to my parents' company, and ended up buying them out.

So there we go. Now if we ever meet I'm going to have to find a different chat up line.

 

[Ben]

My parents founded a company based on advanced driver training and motor risk management, which became quite successful. Suffice to say I've heard a lot of conversations about this sort of thing. They lobbied for, and were successful in getting a reasonably notable change to the way that speeding offences are dealt with. Anyone who drives is at least aware of that change, and there's a good chance they've experienced it directly. It's a low key dull yet kind of interesting conversation piece to tell people that my parents caused that change.

Pretty cool. Closest I could claim is being tangentially associated with the the woman who was largely instrumental in forging the ceasefire between the UK army and the IRA in the late 90s.

Stephen Restorick was my brother's best friend, and was the last soldier killed in Northern Ireland in 1997. He was shot by a sniper while on post. She campaigned for peace after that, and obviously did a great job. I remember my mom talking to her a lot after it happened.

She wrote a book called Death of a Soldier. The picture of Stephen in his best dress uniform was taken at my brother's wedding. I was 10 when he was killed and went to the funeral, so didn't really fathom it at the time.

 

[dimmerwit]

Speed awareness courses. My parents convinced the government that simply giving points for speeding offences didn't work, and speed awareness courses were brought in as a result. My parents' company actually ran those courses, and technically still does. Obviously you've never attended one, but if you did they're run by the AA, but the logo on the documentation reads "the AA by Drivetech". Drivetech was one of the main competitors to my parents' company, and ended up buying them out.

So there we go. Now if we ever meet I'm going to have to find a different chat up line.

Oh right, wow. You're right, I've never been on one, but my neighbour once said how surprisingly impactful his one was.

In my defense it seems they were introduced nationally in the same year I passed my test so not so much a change for me personally.

My dad was a lawyer so you might find something there. Might.

 

[Quagmire]

Fucking hate traffic

I also hate carpool

Have idiots that don't pull all the way forward or don't have their kids ready to get out, or instead of pulling up to buckle them in, buckles them in right there

So aggravating

 

[Fool's Requiem]

I also hate carpool

I do not like relying on other people for my commute to and from home. There's always a chance that they're late, can't leave work on time, has to be a work early, can't get out early, etc. Plus, I dislike the way people drive sometimes.

Commuting was so much more carefree in 2021 and 2022 when people were still teleworking all the time.

Now, teleworking is becoming less and less common as businesses force workers to drive in and traffic has gotten worse, even in STL. I dislike teleworking. As much as I don't like to deal with people, communicating in person is sooooo much easier for me than doing it over chat or phone. Plus, if I stay at home, I only end up having two meals, lunch and dinner, whereas work pretty much makes sure I have a breakfast and a lunch.

 

[Quagmire]

I do not like relying on other people for my commute to and from home. There's always a chance that they're late, can't leave work on time, has to be a work early, can't get out early, etc. Plus, I dislike the way people drive sometimes.

Commuting was so much more carefree in 2021 and 2022 when people were still teleworking all the time.

Now, teleworking is becoming less and less common as businesses force workers to drive in and traffic has gotten worse, even in STL. I dislike teleworking. As much as I don't like to deal with people, communicating in person is sooooo much easier for me than doing it over chat or phone. Plus, if I stay at home, I only end up having two meals, lunch and dinner, whereas work pretty much makes sure I have a breakfast and a lunch.

I meant more kids car pool at school but yeah agree about adult carpool too

 

[Mark]

I meant more kids car pool at school but yeah agree about adult carpool too

It’s still the same if you think about it… there’s always that one asshole that farts.