Our World and Everything in It

 

 

“The most successful commuters on the planet are ants,” according to a segment about transportation on Good Morning America. Ants have colonies larger than Los Angeles or New York; yet never suffer traffic jams because they cooperate in service to the queen. Cooperate is the operative word here. As George Carlin put it: “Anyone driving slower than you is and idiot. Anyone driving faster is a maniac.” Humans can tolerate about one hour of commuting time. After that, they blow. People just do not cooperate when it comes to running the roads.

 

Studies find that 90 percent of roads are not congested 90 percent of the time. But when they are congested boy what a waste of time it is. Everyday commuters spend over 4 billion hours per year stuck in traffic. And the concentration of CO2 emissions from those backups has prompted warnings to drivers to keep their windows rolled up.

 

So urban planners are looking for all types of ways to squelch congestion on busy thoroughfares, a sort of forced cooperation. For instance: Your car has an interesting little box attached to it that registers every time you get on a thoroughfare. You’re charged for driving on that road. It goes right on your credit card. How much you are charged varies according to time of day and how quick you want to be. In other words, it’s going to cost you more to drive during rush hour or in the fast lane. This idea would definitely put a damper on quick runs to the store or for cigarettes or that gotta have fast food. And teenagers—well, just like cell phones, the charges would be astronomical until things got under control.

 

Public transportation is getting a once over again too. Most people do not want to give up their cars in lieu of trains, rail, subway, whatever because most commuters have to drive to get to one of the train stops in the first place. At issue again is parking and traffic congestion wherever commuters pick up and exit from public transportation. Sooooo, mini lightweight cars that run on bio-fuel will be available, think grocery carts, at various locations around the city. A commuter would simply grab a cart, ur um car, and drive it to the nearest stall, stack, or car return near wherever he/she is heading and leave it off. It would be mighty interesting to see a city full of “cartoon-like” disposable public cars.

 

Of course, in a nation of obesity and Type II Diabetes like the U.S., walking and biking paths need to be created everywhere to encourage people to exercise and commute at the same time. Not exactly a novel idea, but a healthy one.

 

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Story?id=6830260&page=1