I know I’ve complained about this before, but…
I’m watching a program on Discovery Times channel about traffic problems. They open with the story of a California cop who drives 50 miles to work each morning. The trip takes an hour and a half.
Um…
I drive only 15 miles each morning, from Arlington, Virginia to Silver Spring, Maryland. That trip takes me 45 minutes, and that’s if I leave the house at 9:20am after the bulk of the traffic is clear (and allows me to use a time-restricted direct route–if I drive to work before 9:30am, I must take congested roads through the center of Washington, DC or go 10 miles out of my way to the congested Beltway. But I digress…)
If he goes 50 miles in 90 minutes, that’s an average of 33mph. My commute averages out to 20mph. Which sounds worse to you? And again, let me reiterate: I commute to work late and leave the office early to avoid the heavy traffic. When I must drive to the office during regular hours, the time nearly doubles. I end up going 15 miles in an hour and 15 minutes, putting my MPH at around 12. There are plenty of people here in the DC area who have it far worse than me.
My ex lives in Stockton, California and commutes twice a week to his office in San Francisco, about 65 miles. He says it sometimes takes about 3 hours. That’s an average of 21mph — at least he’s in the same ballpark as me and knows how I feel.
So I just don’t feel for these people they use as examples in traffic documentaries. I wish I could have the (relatively) rapid commute they do.
