I'm very frustrated by the number of driving days that require the use
of rapid deceleration, evasive action, and rapid acceleration to avoid a
secondary incident. I've had more than 100 incidents within the past
month, and I've noticed that it has taken my driving to the border of
reasonable and sometimes past prudent, just to keep ahead of the traffic
problems. I should not have to leave half an hour earlier to get
somewhere on-time at a relaxed pace under normal traffic conditions. A
relaxed drive that should have taken fifteen minutes today turned into a
drive with rapid changes in speed and multiple evasive moves, and I was
still five minutes late. Less than a minute after leaving, I had to
swerve around three LLBs that were blocking traffic and braking for no
reason except to obstruct traffic flow. One driver turned left and
started driving down the wrong side of the road, then onto the right
shoulder and into the left lane. Another driver almost got crushed when
he rolled out from behind an unmoving LLB at a green light and stopped
in front of me; that's happened at least three other times at
intersections in the past month. Another driver approached a green
left-turn arrow, slowed down until it turned yellow, and then stopped.
There was no traffic on the other side of the road and the light for
traffic going straight was green. I went around the stoppage, but
everyone else in line got stuck as the light turned red.

Yesterday I moved to pass a driver normally and as I accelerated to
pass, the driver drifted in front of me, forcing me to brake and swerve
around on the right. At more than 10 local intersections, traffic is
clogged for hours as 3 to 5 cars get through the traffic light per
cycle. I walked for 10 minutes from one end of a strip mall to the
other end at the next intersection and traffic had completely stopped
when I got there. The reason for this was that the traffic at the light
moved so slowly that only a few cars would get through. The large gaps
between slowly-accelerating cars caused the ground sensor to change the
light to red every few seconds. The slowness caused a backup about 150
cars long within 15 minutes, and it took an hour to clear the mess. On
another day, I pulled out from a shopping mall behind a
slowly-accelerating minivan. The traffic was stopped at the next
intersection, but I didn't want to sit behind the minivan. As I moved
to pass, the minivan driver sped up. I moved quickly back to the right
lane as the traffic light turned green and I accelerated with the
traffic. I got to the next intersection before the minivan left the
first intersection. People were swerving around from behind it, and the
traffic jam continued to increase. When I turned at the next street,
the traffic jam was at least as long as the other jam of 150 cars.

These traffic lights with ground sensors disrupt the smooth flow of
traffic. I should not have to exceed a reasonable speed to get through
the next intersection before the light turns red. Likewise, when I
approach a main street from a side street, I do not want my light to
turn green, as I slow to a stop, at the expense of stopping all the
traffic on the main street. Once stopped, I expect to wait a reasonable
amount of time while the main street traffic continues through the
intersection. In some towns and cities, a driver can expect to have
most lights turn green once the pack of traffic starts moving. The
traffic lights are timed so that if you maintain the speed limit, you
should get through most of the lights. Because of these new devices,
drivers must sometimes play a speed and timing game with the lights or
get stuck behind a slew of red lights and all of the cars that turn in
front of them from the intersecting streets. Some intersections have
two sensors at different distances from the light. When you drive over
the first one and if there's not another car on the second one, the
light turns yellow. You have to accelerate from a normal speed to +20
in order to make it through the light before the yellow expires. If you
don't, it's a delay at that light, then another delay at the next light
compounded by the drivers now in front of you that don't accelerate on
green, plus more delays because you miss multiple light cycles at other
intersections due to the previous delays. The light change doesn't
occur at the same time if you don't drive over the sensor; it instead
appears to change on a timer. If you try to stop for the yellow, you
must use rapid braking. These lights are set so that you have to either
hit the brakes or the accelerator hard. Missing one light cycle can
cause a delay of more than 10 minutes during congested traffic conditions.

I'm driving much faster than should be necessary, but slowing down can
be worse. Not only does it make me very late, but I can often be stuck
in a pack of cars with many angry drivers who might swerve into me, and
that's happened. One destination that can be reached in an estimated 20
minutes without the problems, takes at least 45 minutes to reach. The
number of incidents increases because of the additional time spent in
traffic. The amount of braking and accelerating from stops also
increases, and more periods of idling occur due to traffic jams at
intersections. This wastes fuel and increases the stress on the engine,
brakes, and transmission. Additionally, slower speeds in congested
traffic cause inattentiveness and fatigue, leading to problems like
pulling out into the path of another car or not seeing a pedestrian,
partially due to frustration but mostly the fatigue from repeatedly
braking, idling, and slowly accelerating.

More problems occur or are observed while trying to avoid driving in
traffic by walking or biking. Crosswalks at intersections are sometimes
blocked, leaving no way through except to cross forward of the
intersection line or squeeze between tightly-packed cars. I've almost
been hit several times by drivers on the wrong side of the road while
turning left, and they look at me like I'm in their lane. While
walking, I saw the driver of an SUV staring ahead while waiting at the
red light. His right wrist was resting on the top of the steering
wheel, and he looked like a zombie. The light turned green, but he
didn't accelerate. The driver behind him honked, but still nothing. He
then leaned onto the wheel so that his arm was across it, and slowly
accelerated forward, 15 seconds after the light had changed.

The number and severity of problems is increasing. It seems like there
is no day on the roads that does not have some incident. I am tired of
pushing the redline, tired of turning normal passes into high-speed
evasive actions as the driver I'm trying to pass speeds up to prevent me
from returning to the right lane and trapping me behind the LLB in
front. I'm tired of wasting fuel and time because the Sloths in front
don't move when traffic lights are green. I'm tried of drivers that
drive close next to me and match speeds unless I swerve into them. I'm
tired of drivers on the wrong side of the road, drivers that brake for
no reason, drivers with no lights on in the rain, drivers that make
right turns from the passing lane after having blocked it for five
minutes, drivers that signal after making a slow lane change, drivers
that don't maintain speed, and drivers that don't merge properly. Why
can't I just drive somewhere in a relaxed way and expect to get there
on-time and without incident? Now that I've ranted here instead of
turning all of this frustration into rage tomorrow, is this frustration
normal? Other than leaving hours earlier to go anywhere and taking
detours or pulling over to avoid potential problems, which I do
sometimes, is there something I might do differently to reduce these
problems?