Traffic Jams

Every time I am stuck in traffic, I wonder how traffic jams can even exist, since all cars should be going the same rate anyways.  Because of merging and accidents, however, traffic jams are a reality.  Since my only solution to traffic jams is teleportation, I am going to discuss some other ideas.

[I strongly encourage you watch the videos (warning: lengthy) before reading my analysis so you can think for yourself.]

TED Talk: How to solve traffic jams

In this video, Mr. Green Bowtie says that the solution to traffic jams is additional taxes.  Using Stockholm as his example, he shows how an additional tax significantly limited traffic.  Because this is a predictable trend, he goes on to say that people actually like the tax as they see its benefit.  Besides the fact that this data came from Sweden, this idea will not work because of its manipulative nature.  As his presentation progressed, it seemed like he was performing experiments on mice in mazes.  Although Mr. Bald Head has a reasonable idea and well-presented evidence, his control-minded solution of "nudging" people into behaving according to his master plan is not feasible.

TED Talk: Brilliant designs to fit more people in every city

This video contains a variety of topics, but I am going to focus mainly on the car idea.  Mr. Gray Jacket presents the concept of a small, compact car that can be parked much more efficiently than normal cars. In his parking lot scenario, he claims he could fit seven times more cars in the same amount of space.  The drawback is that the cars are shared.  Much like a shared-use bicycle concept, these cars would all be the same, and could be used by anybody.  This idea would fail miserably, and I am surprised that Mr. Five Water Bottles still supports it.  These cars would be trashed.  Oh, I just spilled coffee in my shared-use car.  What do I care?  Not my problem.  These cars would be the ugliest, most run-down, dirty, smelly things imaginable.  This is a blatant hole in his logic and shows how his talk is less about actual solutions and more about the "wow" factor.

Both of these solutions have hidden flaws and would not work in a realistic world.  So until we all work from home (or invent teleportation, I haven't given up on it yet), traffic will be an annoyance.