You might just get there a little bit quicker

I saw this piece from the Washington Post on five myths about road traffic. While point one is true in most respects it was point three that Auckland drivers need constant reminders of. Simply put you want fewer accidents following that motorway trip? Then heed point three from the Washington Post:

3. Changing lanes will get you there faster.

“Discretionary” lane changes are a common feature of driving — one study found that drivers make one on average for every two kilometers . Finding yourself in a traffic jam, you may note that the lane to one side is moving faster. It is a terrible feeling, one that seems to warrant rash action. You tense at the wheel, wildly scanning the mirrors, enlisting your spouse to signal and barter out the window. Jerry Seinfeld riffed on this in a stand-up routine: “Yeah, come on over here, pal. We’re zoomin’ over here. This is the secret lane. Nobody knows about it.”
Relax. There is no secret lane. The seeming progress other people are making is often an insidious visual illusion, identified by Donald Redelmeier, triggered because we watch drivers pass us more often than we can possibly see ourselves passing other drivers — even when we are actually passing as many drivers as pass us.

And you probably just made things worse by switching lanes. As one study notes, lane-change maneuvers “not only contribute to traffic oscillations, but may even be a primary cause.” Your lane change disrupts the equilibrium of the packed highway, creating a momentary gap in your own lane that another driver, somewhere behind in another lane, will take as his cue to change lanes himself, causing yet more disruption. These drivers are winning the battle but losing the war.

……

Full article and source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-traffic/2015/05/22/74cdae94-ff30-11e4-805c-c3f407e5a9e9_story.html

But then again 75 minutes from Papakura to the City via the Southern Motorway in the morning compared to 53 minutes via the Southern Line (so to be under 53mins with the electrics) might just prompt one to take a more ‘calmer’ journey to work 😉