Why speed up to stop?

I unfortunately have to drive in rush our traffic; just like most Canadians. I enjoy my job and do look forward to getting to my office each morning. I also have to use logic as I drive. I can’t move any faster than the traffic in front of me, so why try. Are you patient in traffic or are you burning to get ahead?

There was a study years ago in Germany that evaluated the travels of two drivers. One was to drive with the flow of traffic; the other was to drive as fast as they could. This was a trip of over 1600 kilometers for these drivers. The ironic part of this long drive was the “speed” driver averaged two kilometers per hour faster than the “go with the flow” driver. How could that be? I mean, they could drive as fast as they wanted to. Shouldn’t the “speed’ driver have had a larger speed average than the “flow” driver? That’s what many people think, but they’re wrong.

Drivers who go faster than other drivers tend to catch up to the slower drivers, thus making them slow down as well. They also speed up to red lights. Do you know someone who speeds up to be able to stop? That doesn’t make sense, does it? Why speed up so you can stop sooner? I’ve had many licensed drivers do that in the car when I’m out re-training them. Each time I ask them why they’re on the gas to go to a red light, they seem embarrassed to be caught doing that.

I was recently in traffic when I noticed a transport truck in the lane next to mine. There was a driver behind them who was tailgating them. Tailgating is another problem that drivers who are in a hurry tend to do. They feel that if they are closer to the lead driver they’ll make it home sooner. Really? The reality of this is they will be home sooner; about one second sooner. Here’s the deal. If the minimum safe following distance in the city is two seconds and the driver is one second behind, they’ll save one second. What will you do in that one second you save? Yeah, I thought so.

The driver who was tailgating ended up being caught in the intersection. The transport just made it through before the traffic light changed. This put the driver behind in the intersection. When the traffic lights changed, the cross traffic couldn’t get by. Can you say gridlock? Where was logic or driving courtesy from this driver? Since they had to stop for the red light anyway, why not stop before the intersection? This would let the cross traffic continue when their lights change.

So, let’s use logic and driving courtesy while driving. Having a reality check every now and then can help us keep our sanity, or maybe I’m just crazy.