Monday, October 4, 2010
TV Traffic Reports
TV traffic reports are almost completely useless. By the time you are able to use the information that the report gives you, the traffic has completely changed. Instead of giving full traffic reports, from now on the people that control the televisions (what mighty power they posses) should just give updates that scroll across the bottom of the screen, but not just any old updates, only the updates about the red sections and major backups that will probably stay backed up for a couple hours. Everything else just changes way too fast.
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I disagree. The specific times reported on tv may not be exactly accurate, but they will give you enough information in the case that you are trying to figure out what road you want to take (in the case that you have options). Also, in the case of accidents, they will let you know how many miles the backup is.
ReplyDeleteBut I'll admit, they are so boring and obnoxious. What are the chances that I care? Zero.
I'll admit, I almost never watch TV traffic reports. And that's coming from someone who commutes at least an hour and a half (round trip) in a car most work days. During my commute, while listening to my books on CD, I think a lot about traffic patterns. Think about people who follow too closely and are constantly adding gas a brakes to the situation as though they are adding salt and pepper to a meal. Now put a timid driver behind them. They see red, so they hit their brakes, even though is no need. If they were to get a little overzealous with their breaking and slow down significantly, the person behind would do the same and so on. This happens all the time. In observing it, I begin to wonder how long a traffic pattern exists. How long does that breaking last? How many people does it affect? That's just a small example, so if you think about an accident or something, that's got to last a very long time, right? TV report has the capability to maintain validity.... Or at least help Chicago drivers choose between Lakeshore and 90/94, right?
ReplyDeleteI hate to say it, but there isn't really a good choice for drivers in Chicago, other than don't drive... although, I do recall a segment from one of my standardized tests that mentioned something about most traffic problems being caused by small occurances such as the one mentioned directly above
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