Traffic is like a tax paid by your time. It is the cost of living and working in a large city. I’ve been to cities known for their traffic, such as New York and Atlanta, and I’ve found that Orlando may not be the Tyson of traffic, but it is in the same weight class. We have a saying here: tourists, traffic and tolls. We spend a good portion of our lives sitting in it. A study by Newsweek claims that the average U.S commuter spends 42 hours a year sitting in traffic jams. There has to be a way to fix it that doesn’t take 10 years of road upgrades.

To begin our commute, we all know the common causes of traffic. Usually a lane closure, or a police officer parked on the side of the road quietly laughing as the traffic halts at his presence, will cause a delay. Traffic that I could never understand is what I call“Phantom Traffic.” There is no explanation for it. How many times have you been on a highway, or, in other words, a large road with NO red lights or stop signs, only to find yourself stopping and going every 10 feet? Then, after 45 minutes of breathing in exhaust from the Oldsmobile in front of you, and listening to Techno music from the teen in his BMW next to you, you find your speed has picked up and there is no reason behind it. There is no accident, no lane closure, or explicit relief from this experience. You have waded through the surging waters only to find there was no flood to begin with. 

After racking my brain and combing the internet to find other thoughts on the topic, I believe I have found the answer to this “Phantom Traffic.” First of all, much of it stems from aggressive drivers. People change when they get in their car. They immediately turn into Ripley in her Exosuit fighting off a horde of caustic aliens on the way to Trader Joe's. 

Anyway, the theory is like a wave. Someone up ahead gets cut off because they didn’t leave enough room for another car to merge simply because they like that lane better. This causes them to hit their brakes, the person behind them hits their brakes slightly harder, the person behind them hits ever so slightly harder, and so on and so forth until half a mile back, people (you) are literally stopped on the highway to later find there is no cause to the effect. 

Solution? As lame as it sounds, if you leave a large gap in front of you to allow cars to get over to the off ramp or just to get their need to switch lanes out of their system, you can actually clear up traffic jams. The only problem with this is everyone knows if you let someone in front of you, you lose. There is one good thing about traffic- it is an equalizer. All cars, though not from the same beginnings, all Camrys and Range Rovers, Civics and Malibus, Porsches and Camaros, from sea to shining sea must share the same road.

HAPPY FRIDAY