Here in California, before you can enter the freeway, you are first stopped at a red light at the on-ramp. The theory, apparently, is that by controlling the amount of people entering the freeway, they can control the traffic ON the freeway. It sounds like a great idea. However, this "great idea" creates tons of traffic on the side streets where people are lining up to get on the freeway. (Please excuse the rapid fire "freeway," but I have no other way to explain this other than a video, which I'm going out on a limb to say it's illegal to video tape while driving.)
Imagine tons of cars coming in from all different areas at one intersection, waiting turns to line up before the red light to get onto the freeway. Two lanes on the on ramp eventually go down to one, which means you're forced to merge with the other lane. Enter: The Zipper Effect. One car from the right lane goes, then one from the left lane, one from the right, one from the left, until we're all waiting in a single-file line.
If we could all hold hands and work together on this, my mornings would be so much easier. But is life that easy, you ask? Oh hell no. Instead of the group accepting that we all have to wait our turn, it's every man for himself. Granted, 99% of the people are willing to meld smoothly with the opposite lane. However, there's always that one jerk who decides he doesn't feel like waiting. He thinks that by not letting in the one car he's supposed to let in, he'll have won the morning's battle. Because, as you can imagine, getting to the red light one car length faster is sooo worth it.
Come on. I can see exactly how much time you've saved...ONE CAR LENGTH of time. Is it really worth pissing off your neighbors, your cohorts in this crazy thing we call "rush hour?" Does it make you feel that much better about your life that you're ONE CAR LENGTH AHEAD OF ME? Well you know what? If that's what you need to get you through the day, then so be it. Apparently you're time is more precious than mine, or your life is more atrocious than mine, and it feels good for me to be able to give you that one small victory in what you call your life. Good LORD.
[Deep breath.]
Thanks for listening.
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Hang in there Steph... I feel your pain. I fine even during odd hours of the day people are still not willing to let you in. Where is the LOVE???
ReplyDeleteI think the whole on ramp light is a cluster-you-know-what anyway. It DOES keep the traffic on the freeway moving, yes, but like you said, it backs up traffic on surface streets, and, more importantly, forces fraidy-cat drivers with the utter inability to merge to come to a complete stop before attempting a merge into 80+ MPH traffic. Not the smartest idea ever.
ReplyDeleteALSO, (I just remembered this), there's that on ramp that leads up to the 5 South from near Carmel Valley where the stop light is literally at the peak of a hill, so that when it turns green you're a. at a complete stop and b. forced to merge onto traffic going at LEAST 80mph when you're only at 30mph. Is that really the best place for the stop light, San Diego? Scares me silly.
ReplyDeleteI can not tell you how many of these "on-ramp lights" I blew through when we first moved here.
ReplyDeleteDear California- I thought the whole concept of a merge was to get up to the speed of the traffic I was merging into NOT play a cruel game of stop and go causing me to rev my engine to unheard of RPM's just to catch up to the traffic flow. Please work on that.
Love,
Lois