The other day driving to work, as I rounded a bend to head east onto Interstate-94 heading towards Milwaukee, two lanes feeding into one came to a stop. It was the first time I’d encountered this backup and didn’t think anything of it. We fed in slowly, and were on our way with our respective commutes.
It was a delay and slightly frustrating, but nothing new to anyone who commutes by car and lives in a metro area. Traffic, too many cars and construction all limit your mobility. When you think you’ve got smooth sailing, think again. There’s a roadblock somewhere lurking to raise your blood pressure.
I never did find the issue that day. The cars funneled in, we flowed onto the interstate and off we went. No police cars on the side with their lights flashing. No smashed up vehicles. No new construction cones.
I didn’t think much of it. Sometimes traffic backs up for no logical reason. Humans aren’t logical, so there are a lot of times driving makes no sense.
But, as I traversed that same stretch of road in the coming days, there was a pattern. I hadn’t thought of it before, but slowly the pieces fit together and it became clear there is another culprit in the American car commute struggle to keep moving at a steady pace and not stop and go.
The day the backup occurred was brilliantly sunny and we were turning directly into the sun when the massive backup occurred. As I thought back to that day, the cars started to loosen up and move after we got through that stage of the road. We no longer had the sun flashing our eyes, forcing drivers to squint, put on their sunglasses, slow down and use their sun visors.
When you think about traffic patterns and sudden slowdowns, you don’t often consider the sun. Rain or snow are a different story because we have their effects all around us as the water hits the car and accumulates on the pavement. It’s visual and tangible.
That’s not true of the sun. We don’t think about it. Hence, we don’t realize or plan for the fact of it affecting our ability to safely navigate our daily commutes. We think, “Dang, the sun’s in my eyes again.” And though we slow down and know that we’re responding to the light in our eyes, we don’t really consider it also affecting all the cars around us.
When the weather was cloudy, the traffic flowed with no problem. That’s how I finally figured out the difference. “Hmm, cloudy today and no problems. Hmm, sunny today and we’re all backed up. What the heck is the difference between the two days?”
Someone needs to invent sunglasses or some type of car visor technology that mitigates this problem. Think of the commuting time it would save. Think of how much more relaxed we’d be when we got to work, talking nicely to our colleagues. Productivity would soar. Profits increase. The economy would surge.
Maybe someone could invent a special sensor-activated windshield that responded to certain direct rays from the sun. The car manufacturers need to get on this one. Whoever hits the market first has the sales advantage. “Our new non-squinting windshield helps you drive into the rising sun without forcing you to turn your eyes into slits.” Picture those television ads.
Most days we take our commutes at face value. Sometimes though you to step back and analyze why something happened the way it did. Watch out for sun-based traffic.
It was a delay and slightly frustrating, but nothing new to anyone who commutes by car and lives in a metro area. Traffic, too many cars and construction all limit your mobility. When you think you’ve got smooth sailing, think again. There’s a roadblock somewhere lurking to raise your blood pressure.
I never did find the issue that day. The cars funneled in, we flowed onto the interstate and off we went. No police cars on the side with their lights flashing. No smashed up vehicles. No new construction cones.
I didn’t think much of it. Sometimes traffic backs up for no logical reason. Humans aren’t logical, so there are a lot of times driving makes no sense.
But, as I traversed that same stretch of road in the coming days, there was a pattern. I hadn’t thought of it before, but slowly the pieces fit together and it became clear there is another culprit in the American car commute struggle to keep moving at a steady pace and not stop and go.
The day the backup occurred was brilliantly sunny and we were turning directly into the sun when the massive backup occurred. As I thought back to that day, the cars started to loosen up and move after we got through that stage of the road. We no longer had the sun flashing our eyes, forcing drivers to squint, put on their sunglasses, slow down and use their sun visors.
When you think about traffic patterns and sudden slowdowns, you don’t often consider the sun. Rain or snow are a different story because we have their effects all around us as the water hits the car and accumulates on the pavement. It’s visual and tangible.
That’s not true of the sun. We don’t think about it. Hence, we don’t realize or plan for the fact of it affecting our ability to safely navigate our daily commutes. We think, “Dang, the sun’s in my eyes again.” And though we slow down and know that we’re responding to the light in our eyes, we don’t really consider it also affecting all the cars around us.
When the weather was cloudy, the traffic flowed with no problem. That’s how I finally figured out the difference. “Hmm, cloudy today and no problems. Hmm, sunny today and we’re all backed up. What the heck is the difference between the two days?”
Someone needs to invent sunglasses or some type of car visor technology that mitigates this problem. Think of the commuting time it would save. Think of how much more relaxed we’d be when we got to work, talking nicely to our colleagues. Productivity would soar. Profits increase. The economy would surge.
Maybe someone could invent a special sensor-activated windshield that responded to certain direct rays from the sun. The car manufacturers need to get on this one. Whoever hits the market first has the sales advantage. “Our new non-squinting windshield helps you drive into the rising sun without forcing you to turn your eyes into slits.” Picture those television ads.
Most days we take our commutes at face value. Sometimes though you to step back and analyze why something happened the way it did. Watch out for sun-based traffic.