The true causes Traffic jam?
Photo from geo.sunysb.edu
It isn’t the density of people, but the density of cars. As shown in the photo above, a bunch of people occupied the whole street when they rode with their personal cars. Head-striking traffic is eradicated when people use economical mediums such as a bus or environmental such as bicycle.
December of last year sold 1,145,079 vehicles in United States. With roughly a million cars sold each month, no wonder why our roads are intersected with traffic.
People blame different factors to traffic. Main in the list was the disturbances, like accident or construction constricting the road. And of course, rush hour, the most used excuse.
Japan Airlines CEO Haruka Nishimatsu rides the public bus to work; while every person is prided with his or her own vehicle in the United States.
If you’ll just go to the book store a block away, walking won’t be bad. Cycling is a nice time to think and feel the rush of air while all those time burning hundreds of calories. Technology can help us live better, but not to the point of laziness. There’s no technology for clearing away traffic magically nor technology to permanently keep an inactive body healthy.
If people use their feet to pace a proximity, or be smart to ride with other people than seclude themselves on their personal cars all the time, there will be less traffic.
So, can you walk?
Sources:December Auto Sales Primed For Year’s High; Auto Observer
Japan Airlines’ CEO pays himself less than the pilots, takes the bus to work; boingboing
Moment Matters 
I certainly can. Your suggestions make a lot of sense.
I can’t walk very far having a disability, but this year I gave up my car and now use a wheel chair to take those short trips. I’ve been surprised to be reminded of how much fun I had walking when younger rather than getting around with the car and now I have time to notice the little things I’ve been missing for the last 20+ years I relied on the car to get everywhere.
Bike rules all!
Reblogged this on designgotsmall.
I am very enthusiastic about cycling and walking. Also, in Slovenia we have a system of Car Sharing (also Germany, France and some other countries) and it functions very well. Hope there will be even more changes in this direction. And everywhere in the world! 😉
Great illustration of the problem of ‘car density’.
Reblogged this on bestfootforwards.
In my travels, I’ve learned that the best way to get a proper feel for a place is to do it via walking. You just don’t get that same connecting if you’re cooped up in a car or bus. I haven’t tried the bicycle method.
You’re comparing apples with oranges. A journey that is normally done by car cannot normally be done, in time, on foot. Think of what the journeys involve, normally shopping, taking kids somewhere, playing sport, playing instruments. Basically people take the car not only for comfort (air-con set right for me, music loud, comfort) but also for transportation of things to destinations.
Walking or taking the bus with the full family shop is impractical and whenever I see someone struggling onto a bus with over 4 bags of shopping, I have to laugh.
Yes people blame different things for congestion, but the reality is that from 1 day to the next, traffic can be totally different. I sit in the traffic most days from Biddenham to Bedford station, however, some days there is nothing, why?
Because it’s not amount of cars on the road, it’s the design of roads, it’s how people use them, it’s about someone making a right turn and holding up all the traffic behind them until they can get across. It’s about kids going early to school and using the pelican crossing, it’s about people letting too many others out from junctions (basically too courteous), it’s about bus stops not being separate from traffic and waiting whilst granny smith pays in coppers, it’s about a lack of sequenced traffic signals, it’s about deliveries, it’s about breakdowns, it’s about the school run, it’s about crap drivers, it’s about lane hoggers, it’s about people braking too hard, need I go on?
As someone who frequently rants about commuting, to just say that there are too many cars on the road is simplistic rubbish frankly.
Go on any motorway in the country at 830 or 530 and I’ll show you 60% not using the road properly.
There are situations where biking or walking will not be sensible, for example if you are going to cover 80 miles then you’d need a car or train. Where I live, the road design doesn’t carter for pedestrians or bikers and we have so many cars coming into the city to be parked till evening when their owners will go home in the evening. If they used public transport, we would reduce the number of cars on the road.
Attitudes have to change. People should walk or bike more one as a means to better lifestyles and to reduce environmental pollution.
It would take half the day to walk to work and half to walk back, with no time to actually work. Biking would not be much better. I tried the bus. The normal half hour drive took 1.5 hours. That was one way. So, on a daily basis, it would eat up 3 hours a day, 15 hours a week, at least 60 hours a month, just wasted on a bus. So I think I’ll stick with my car. My roommate is a coworker. So we carpool on days he doesn’t have classes. At least it cuts down one car on most days.
I walk whenever I can, and find it to be of great benefit. The pictures for comparison that you posted, really send a strong message. Thanks.
Viva la bicycle! Now if someone could just invent a chain that never comes off… : )
I walk … a lot – and use only public transportation – car in a town or city is mad. Also goes on my bike .. if the weather is pleasant. We have fantastic public transportation in our county and very colorful too – green & yellow buses plus beautiful purple trains. Better of rent a car when doing longer trips .. cheaper too then own one.
I don’t attribute traffic jams to the number of cars, rather the number of bad and inconsiderate drivers.
Notice next time on the highway during rush hour how many people getting on the highway who are driving too close together. It forces them to slow down, it causes the highway drivers to slow down. There is no room to integrate into traffic like cogs on gears.
On top of that, there are too many people who want to wait til the last possible minute to merge, then want to cross 2 lanes over asap into the “fast lane”. Couple this with the number of people who already drive too close to the car in front of them, but then take driving measures to prevent someone getting ahead of them like its a line in the grocery store.
It’s not cars, but drivers which are to blame.
I like to ride my bike when I can. Usually it is not practical.
Shoot. I forgot to mention I loved the illustration.
AND that I somewhat agree with John Barron, but what I think is that there are too many people, not too many cars. In my opinion population control is what we need globally.
The ongoing joke in New York City is that “nobody drives because too many people drive.”
I think part of the problem is of city planning where residential zones are far from places of work meaning people have to cover many miles to work. This results in a need to own cars and the result is several cars with single occupants trying to get to work. New cities should be planned to take care of this and I think only in industrial complex where there are toxic gases should people live away from where they work.
Attitudes should also change, people should use public transport, pool cars, bike and wherever possible walk.