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1.19.2013

Traffic Jams Waste Precious Time, Resources, Money, and Sanity. Please Stop Driving Senselessly and Being Part of the Problem.

There are few things more frustrating than sitting in traffic.  In an era when most office/computer jobs could be worked from home there is really no need for that many people to be clogging up the roads every damn day.  Are we human beings or are we idiots waiting?

This infographic from the Nationwide Insurance showcases the real cost of traffic jams here in America.

Highlights include:

*Worst traffic jams with longest annual delays: Washington D.C. (yet they think they know how to run the country "sustainably"! ha!)

*1.9 billion gallons of fuel wasted annually in traffic jams or ~5days worth of US oil consumption!  We could cut our fuel usage by 1.4% by simply avoiding and eliminating traffic jams.

*Average commuter is stuck in traffic 34 hours per year at a total personal expense of $713.

See for yourself...



There is a really simple solution to all of this: stop driving so much and set up your life in such a way that you don't have to drive somewhere every day.  Live within biking distance of where you work and play, get a good bike (with studded snow tires for the winter), get easy exercise riding to and from work/play twice daily, save a buttload of money by not needing a car, and save the friggin' planet.  It's really not that hard.  If you find yourself saying, "I can't do that in the city I live in," maybe you should quit your job and move somewhere that was actually designed for human inhabitants (not cars).  Doing so could be great for your mental, physical, and spiritual health.

Help change the course this nation is on, otherwise we're going to have to change the words to America The Beautiful and all our other "patriotic" songs...



I know what you're thinking:  "Love it or leave it!"  Really?  That's stupid.  If I didn't love America so much, I wouldn't be so concerned about our collective future.  Bam!