Stuck in Traffic

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Staring at the ocean of brake lights spread out before you, you listen as the morning DJ’s voice drones on about the weather. Fifteen minutes have passed, you realize, since you first stopped at the back of this seemingly never-ending line of cars. The sign to your right warns of a lane closed due to construction in 2,500 feet. You let out a heavy sigh as you wonder how much more time this next half of a mile is going to add to your morning commute. Such is life in our modern day of mass transportation, you think to yourself, but surely there is some way to alleviate this headache. While things like construction may be unavoidable, the way that you and other drivers behave can go a long way towards solving the problem. Beware, however, for although you may think your choices to be the best for the situation at hand, chances are that you, too, have often been part of the problem.

My grandfather once told me that there are three things you can count on in life: death, taxes, and traffic. Hate it as we may, traffic has become an everyday annoyance in our modern lives. According to the Texas Transportation Institute, traffic jams cost U.S. travelers 87.2 billion US dollars in 2007. That number reduces to a whopping seven hundred fifty dollars per US motorist in one year’s time (Economic Factors). As we are all far too aware of, traffic costs not only money, but time as well. All of those hours spent cursing the traffic gods add up to nearly one full week of wasted time per driver each year (Economic Factors). Bear in mind, while you may be stopped during a traffic jam, your car’s engine is still very much alive, wastefully burning fuel and releasing pollutants into the air. Cars stuck in traffic burn quite a daunting amou...

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