Traffic Waves

OK, it's been a while since we last have made an update to our site, but mathematical proof [from Slashdot] has been found that supports our tenants.

Check out this site for information on how traffic wave phenomena are explained.

The author, William Beaty, even came to similar conclusions for ways to alleviate traffic that are congruent to our recommendations.

Anyways, if only we could organize around fixing the traffic situation, we could dramatically improve the situation on 520. We'll keep trying, it's promising to see that others out there are making similar findings!

Just Honk!

I just found out about a new aproach to traffic reduction from a new DOT report.

What do you think?

Dump the Pump Thursday!

Thursday is "Dump the Pump" day. As the APTA says:

The day is dedicated to raising awareness that public transportation helps improve the environment and conserve fuel. It also offers the opportunity for people to beat the high price of gasoline and support public transportation as an important travel option that helps reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

On June 21, public transportation agencies from coast to coast will join together to ask the public to park their cars and ride public transportation instead.

Make sure to dump the pump Thursday and don't you dare drive!

Vatican Rules of the Road

Today in the Seattle TImes there's an article about the 10 commandments for drivers from the Vatican.

They are:

1. You shall not kill.

2. The road shall be for you a means of communion between people and not of mortal harm.

3. Courtesy, uprightness and prudence will help you deal with unforeseen events.

4. Be charitable and help your neighbor in need, especially victims of accidents.

5. Cars shall not be for you an expression of power and domination, and an occasion of sin.

6. Charitably convince the young and not so young not to drive when they are not in a fitting condition to do so.

7. Support the families of accident victims.

8. Bring guilty motorists and their victims together, at the appropriate time, so that they can undergo the liberating experience of forgiveness.

9. On the road, protect the more vulnerable party.

10. Feel responsible toward others.

What do you think of these commandments? Does it make you want to go to confession for your driving sins?

Tips for Driving in the Rain

I drove across 520 on Saturday in heavy rain, and the experience inspired me to make this post:

• As soon as you turn on your wipers, turn on your headlights. Day or Night! This will ensure that on-coming traffic can see you, and that you can see traffic ahead of you. It's actually the law here that if you have 500 feet or less visibility, you have to have your headlights on.


• In all sorts of rain, you can prevent skids by driving slowly and carefully, especially on curves. Steer and brake with a light touch. When you need to stop or slow, do not brake hard or lock the wheels and risk a skid. Maintain mild pressure on the brake pedal.


• Give extra space to the car infront of you. Tailgating is always bad, but it's even worse in the rain when braking is more difficult.


• Hydroplaning happens when water in front of your tires builds up faster than your car's weight can push it out of the way. The water pressure causes your car to rise up and slide on a thin layer of water between your tires and the road. If you find yourself hydroplaning, do not slam on the breaks! You will lose control of the vehicle! Step off the gas and apply mild pressure.


• Make turns more slowly to avoid skidding.


• Most roads are sloped so that rain falls off to the sides. So if you stay in the center of the road and the center of your lane within the road, that is the most dry position.


• Never use cruise control in the rain. Many cruise controls, even modern ones, don't take loss of traction into account when computing cruise control, so if you start slipping, the cruise control will start to accelerate!


• Wet roads are most dangerous the first rain after a dry period. All of the dirt and grease accumulated will combine with the water to make an extremely slick surface.

Do you have any rain driving tips of your own?

Best and Worst Driver Stories?

We all have stories about bad drivers talking on the phone, eating food, picking their noses, and generally not paying attention. What's the worst driver you've personally witnessed?

Extra points if you tell about a particular situation where you were a bad driver and regretted it later.

And how about nice driver stories (if any exist)? It's a lot harder to notice good drivers, but if you've got a story, please share!

NOTE: Please don't post names or license plates, and keep it clean.

Opinion: Don't Be a Victim of Traffic.

Something occured to me the other day and that may or may not be obvious to everyone else: Each day's traffic is new.

Think about it. Traffic isn't something that just exists and we join and leave it each day. It actually stops existing every night, and then the next morning it begins fresh again. We create repetitive traffic with our routines and jobs, so it gives the illusion of a constant problem.

We choose every day to create traffic. It is a decision we make to get into our cars (usually alone) and search for a somewhat-less-congested route to work. We are actively contributing to traffic simply by being on the road. Even if you are riding the bus to work, you are still creating traffic, albeit less than if you were driving.

Now, don't get me wrong, I believe that commuting is a necessary part of our current economoy (until we develop the technology and ethic to do our work from remote locations). But I don't believe that traffic has to be as bad as it is, even with the current infrastructure.

You can choose to be victimized by what traffic appears to be; a necessary evil of the economy that can't be avoided which some research group is "thinking about" and some government agency is spending your money to "do something about it".


Or you can see it for what it is. Traffic is the result of collective decisions people make to drive at similar times to get to places they want to go, and they try to get there as fast as possible.

Does this realization change the decisions you're going to make about how you commute?

Changing the traffic system takes time and money, and there are things you can do today to change your commute. Whether you decide to take transit, start a carpool, drive at different hours, telecommute, motorcycle, bike, walk, move closer to work, or just drive better alone doesn't matter to us. What does matter is that you think about these choices and make the most of what we've got today.

Because ultimately, it is you that decides to get up in the morning and drive to work and create traffic every day.

Carpool? What's stopping you?

This Times Opinion piece from Nicole Brodeur about Ride Share and how she made friends and saved gas by ride sharing is wonderful.

Excerpt:

The bonding truly came, though, on the way home, at the intersection of Jackson and 23rd: the state liquor store.

"Mind if I stop in here?" I asked, somewhat sheepishly.

"You know, I always drive past here, meaning to stop in... " she said.

We really didn't need to; we were both buzzing with the sense that Doing Our Part was not at all like a term paper, or back-country dentistry, or hell.

What took us so long?

What's taking you?

As Eddie Izzard Says... "Ciao!"

You could be riding around the city on a scooter saving massive gas mileage! This is another way to save money on gas, and have fun getting around. Scooting would let you take the HOV lanes on the freeway, but with some of the smaller scooters, I wouldnt' recommend it.

When people think of motorcycle commuting, it's important to remember that scooters and mopeds are ok too.

Gas Mileage Hacking

This article about people who drive a specific way to maximize gas mileage is pretty interesting. A lot of what they do are things we encourage here at IAST:

• "avoiding jackrabbit starts"


• "avoiding stop-and-go"


• "anticipating lights"


• "driving a bit more slowly"

A few we definitely don't support:

• slightly overinflated tires to cut rolling resistance


• drafting like race cars behind larger vehicles

The drafting idea is dangerous, because it is essentially tailgating behind the largest vehicles that have the hardest time seeing smaller cars. Tailgating is bad, but the other lessons are good ones, and with gas nearly $4 a gallon, we should all consider driving better to save gas. In the article:

“I do as few accelerations and brakings as possible to get up to speed and
maintain it,” he said. He ... avoids lane changes and coasts to red lights.

Sounds like our message exactly. Save money: Drive better!

Beware the Bear!

I hope your memorial day weekend was fabulous. If you drive to work tomorrow, be careful not to hit a bear!

Today is Drive Nice Day

Today is Drive Nice Day. You can get a sticker at several locations. If you've got a sticker and haven't put it in your window yet, now is the time to do it!

Go to Drive Nice Day [www.driveniceday.org] for more information. We'll be posting pictures and other tid-bits from the event.

Also, KOMORadio posted a hotlink to driveniceday.org.

Careful Passing and the Flying V on Seattle Highways

There is a phenomenon I have witnessed on Seattle's highways. That of people driving at the same speed next to each other. This is much akin to geese flying in formation.

Don't create the flying V. This is wrong. People should just be getting into the passing lane (that is the left one for those of you moving here from the other hemisphere) unless you intend to pass somebody. If you aren't passing, please refrain from using this lane. The space is primarily there to enable PASSING not CRUISING.

If you are being passed by cars in the right lane, you probably should not be in the left (passing) lane. This key indicator, cars passing you with people shaking their fists in the air, is a signal for you to get back into the non-passing lane.

If you do, in fact, decide to pass someone in the left lane, please return to the non-passing lane when you are done and you will be helping reduce congestion and will be helping Seattle with its traffic problem.

A final note, passing is one the most dangerous components of driving. According to IVI, lane changes account for 10% of crashes. When you're passing, be extremely careful with each lane change; signal your intentions by turning on your signal long before changing lanes; and be respectful of the other vehicles on the road. Also, be extra careful on the 24th since it's Drive Nice Day!

Not Crop Circles...

Here's an article I found that shows the reduction of accidents after putting in Traffic Circles in neighborhoods. Neighborhood Traffic Calming: Seattle's Traffic Circle Program

I think it's amazing how making the right small change can make a big impact on a problem. This is how I view the traffic congestion problems in Seattle. This is a seemingly daunting problem that many people don't believe they can affect. But you can affect it.

You personally can change your driving behaviors in simple and repeatable ways to improve traffic. You must realize that traffic is created by cars, cars are driven by people, and people have bad habits. It's not fun to drive more responsibly, but it is powerful.

You created the traffic. Take a stand and change your part of the road.

Drive Nice Day - Seattle Times

The Seattle Times has an article about Drive Nice Day today.

Are you Driving Nice?

Thursday this week is Drive Nice Day. I Am Seattle Traffic is now an official sponsor of Drive Nice Day, and we've been out handing out stickers and trying to get them in the back window of as many cars as possible.

Drive Nice Day is about driving more couteously and trying to avoid accidents on the most collision-prone day of the year!

We'd also really like to get some pictures of cars with Drive Nice Day stickers. 20,000 stickers were made for the event this year, so if you spot one, get a picture and send it to us at info@iamseattletraffic.org

Don't forget to visit DriveNiceDay.org to learn more about the event.

National Bike to Work Day

Tomorrow is National Bike to Work Day, read more about Bike2WorkDay here. Many breakfasts are being offered, including one from my employer!

If you really want to send the oil companies a message, forget about meaningless one-day boycotts where you don't buy gas built still drive. Take the bike to work once a week, or ride the bus twice a week. If all Americans did that we'd save 10 billion barrels of oil a year, costing the oil companies about $600 billion dollars and lowering the price of gas by $1.25 a gallon.

Better Driving Please!

I stumbled on this site from UK called Better Driving Please! They're taking license plates of bad drivers and trying to "help out the authorities" with improving the raods. A bit extreme compared to what we do, but we can take all the help we can get!

Take a look and let us know what you like/don't like/what you learned from their site.

Cheerio!

www.DriveNiceDay.org

The www.DriveNiceDay.org web site is up and running! Go check it out and learn more about Drive Nice Day, May 24th, 2007.

There are stickers available, and you can get them at locations listed here.

There are also drive nice tips on the site.

Drive Nice! It's Contagious.

No Rubberneckin'

Occasionally, when people are on their commute, something miraculous, mysterious, or otherwise interesting happens on the edge of the road. These occurrences include but are not limited to:

• Accidents


• Road Side Assistance


• Natural Disasters


• Sport Events


• Police pulling people over


• Streakers


• Planes flying overhead with advertisements

When an interesting event occurs, people begin to do something that I refer to as "rubbernecking". Rubbernecking is the act of twisting your attention away from the road and on to the roadside distraction. What people do not realize when they rubberneck is that they tend to slow down. This is bad. Slowing down for one person tends to cause slowing down for others and spreads the rubbernecking because people then realize there is something interesting to stare at.

Please, Seattle, try to refrain from rubberneckin' and maintain your true speed!