Traffic sucks.

 We live in a country where our traffic jams are legendary since basically every single person drives their own two-ton car to work. I travel all across this country and except for people in NYC, nobody really uses any type of mass-transportation or participate in ride-shares and travelling around major cities from 7 to 9AM or 4 to 6:30pm is just miserable.


I have sat in such horrific traffic-jams that I’ve missed meetings and have nearly pissed myself a few times as I was stuck in a place with no men’s room in sight. Traffic is horrible but we as a country don’t care because nobody is willing to actually do anything to limit the amount of cars on the road. Obama speaks often about greening the country but unless people are willing to suck it up and share their personal space with other people in a car-pool or on a light-rail or bus, it’s not going to happened. They talk about taxing industry who are carbon-emitters but they should start taxing the guys who are driving to work and causing me such a headache (end Thomas Friedman rant)

What I realize though is that there are two types of traffic: my own traffic and other people’s traffic.

If I’m en route to a Yankee game and I’m stuck in bumper to bumper traffic fighting to get to the stadium along with 60,000 other fans, I can live with it. I know that I’m part of the cause of this traffic and I know that it’s something I should have been able to predict.

Now if I’m en route to New Haven and I get stuck in traffic to Yankee stadium, I’m stuck in other-peoples traffic and this I can’t stand. This is where I become completely livid and start huffing and puffing as my blood pressure rises like the Stock Market in about 2004. I don’t know why there is such a distinction for me but sitting in other-people’s traffic is like Chinese Water Torture for me.

The only thing that comes even close to Other-Peoples-Traffic is fender-bender traffic. If you are going to cause the West Side Highway to backup from 181st street to Chelsea Piers at least have a couple of people crippled cause when I drive by an Audi and a M3 stopped in the middle lane with no visible damage, I’m likely to join my barrage of obscenities with a loogie on the windshield of both the jackass and the other donkey.