Things that frustrate me the most....PART-2

Click here for Part-1 - Grocery Shopping

(2) Freeway Traffic: Whether you're driving or are in the passenger seat in your school shuttle, freeway traffic is freeway traffic - annoying to the core. It's been like this for ages, and if I complain that Austin's freeway traffic is too much to tolerate, I'm sure my West Coast and North East friends would get psyched out, 'cos it is X times worse out there. Compared to India where I come from, I must admit that the infrastructure in the U.S is so much better and much more convenient to drive, 'cos we don't even have lanes there in huge majority of the roads! However, even here in the U.S, with increasing population and declining death rates, the existing infrastructure cannot stand long.

How many times have I had to be late for my early morning class because of being privileged to be stuck on the freeways? And it annoys me so much because, it coincidentally happens on those days I even wake up early and get organized for class. And yet I got to be late! Well, one could argue that I must plan to take the previous shuttle in that case to allow for a guard band, but trust me, it never happens. After a late night assignment, I hardly have time for breakfast in the mornings. However, that is my specific case. I know a lot of people going to work or school, leave a good 30 minutes ahead of time to plan for the possible jam in freeway traffic if they need to hit it. But my question is, why should they? What happens if the whole world one day, by induction, plans to start early from home to be on time?

I think one way to get a start on solving this problem is, promote more of remote connectivity and work-from-home or study-from-home. Virtual classrooms and distance learning in 21st century schools and universities are becoming prevalent but not widely yet. This would also contribute to the growth of the economy in terms of lesser oil consumption and hence lesser foreign dependency.

Or, another thought - why not make the freeways move instead of the cars that move on it ? Ha! Weird? I mean, most of the traffic and accidents are caused by the varying speeds of vehicles. How would the world look like if the roads (at least the freeway ones which are long and uncurved mostly) were to move and the cars were to just stay stationary on them i.e. relative to the roads, the cars don't move, but relative to earth they do. All cars travel with same velocity, equal to that of the road, thereby reducing chances of freeway traffic jams and accidents, if properly designed and implemented.

Cost of infrastructure, fuel consumption to make the roads move, how to get on and off a stationary road to a moving freeway - out of scope currently, I have no clue yet - upto the Governors to give it a thought. Here's my problem. I don't want to leave early, my time is precious to me. But, I want to be on time to wherever I go...