Freeways

I love freeways. They are not the best paved roads, but many lanes and a good speed make them really fun to drive. They have only one problem: too many cars.

The Los Angeles area has lots of cars. This makes the freeways look like a parking lot during rush hour and a parking lot exit during non-rush hour times. Five lanes each way are clogged with cars.

Even with that, when going out of Los Angeles the lanes become clear and much more fun to drive.

Nadav

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Passed Over

Passover and Easter are behind us, and that means only one thing - traffic goes back to normal. During those holidays the roads were clogged with commute times rising to six times of the normal time.

Last week, on Friday, Passover night, the roads were especially jammed. The headlines in the big news sites were traffic jams and commute times. Today, when the holiday is officially over, many people are going to do the way back home.

Hopefully roads will be clear until September, for Rosh Hashana.

Nadav

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The Annoyance of Traffic Jams

Traffic jams are always annoying, but they are more annoying than ever when I have to pay for my own gas. A standing car wastes time and gas, and it's definitely not something I want.

This traffic problem comes down to lanes - the freeway I drive on goes from three lanes to two, and standing traffic begins there. It's annoying, but I get more time to listen to the radio thanks to that.

The freeway is supposed to be expanded to three lanes in that problematic segment soon, so it'll hopefully solve those problems.

Nadav

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Heavy Traffic in the Driving Test

Heavy traffic is definitely in the top three most annoying driving situations. Crawling traffic is a frustrating situation, especially because it's against the spirit of driving and you cannot control such situation. Traffic jams really make you feel hopeless

During a driving test, there are some mistakes done by people during heavy traffic. Although many drivers are thankful if they get slow traffic during their test (no need to work too hard), there are still some mistakes you should pay attention to. Here is an article I wrote about this issue.

Heavy Traffic - Mind Blowing Driving Test Mistakes

Slow, crawling traffic is probably the most frustrating view on the road. The red braking lights and the hardly moving speedometer can drive anyone insane. When it happens to driving students during their driving test, some of them make some very silly mistakes that cost them the entire test. These mistakes often repeat themselves, and some repeat even more than others.

The safety distance becomes a real issue on heavy traffic. If drivers don't keep a safe distance from each other, accidents will happen. Since traffic is moving slowly, nothing too dangerous will happen, but even small accidents can make people angry. If a student driver doesn't keep a safe distance on the test and hits another car, the test is immediately over.

Lack of courtesy is a real problem on heavy traffic. People who try to merge into crawling traffic sometimes have a real difficulty fitting in. The reason is ignorant drivers who don't let them in. It also happens when drivers want to make a turn into slow traffic. Student drivers who don't let others in or have trouble merging will probably not get a mark, but this isn't showing the examiner any good driving qualities.

Blocking intersections is a much more serious issue of congested traffic. Some drivers are eager to go through an intersection, but they don't see if they can make it to the other side safely. The result - they block the intersection. This practice is illegal. If a driving student blocks an intersection during a road test, the test will probably be a big failure.

Lane changes are very hard during rush hour traffic. Usually lane changes are made when the road is clear. However, when the road is full, moving between lanes can be rather difficult. Driving students who want to change lanes usually signal and turn their car. However, some of them can't estimate distances well and hit a neighbor car. If it happens during a test, the examinee can forget about the license.

Heavy traffic isn't pleasant, but it must be practiced. Without practice, no driver will be able to driver through crawling traffic, and this could lead to dangerous situations mentioned earlier. Every driving student should find some time to practice in rush hour, even if it's boring and frustrating.

You can find a good guide that will help you go through slow traffic at the Pass Your Driving Test area of my site.

Hope you enjoyed this article. Practice heavy traffic, especially if you live in the city. It might just save you and your test.

Yours,
Nadav

nadavs

Traffic Jams Solved

On the Saturday a week ago I talked about surprising traffic jams. Those are the traffic jams that appear suddenly and disappear in the same weird manner. Well, as written in this article, a group of mathematicians has managed to solve this riddle and discover why such traffic jams occur.

The reason for these traffic jams is drivers who make sudden brakes and don't keep traffic flow. When a situation requires a driver to brake, such as a truck pulling over, the driver behind him also brakes, and it keeps going backwards. Every driver who brakes reaches a slower speed than the previous one until one driver makes a complete stop, and that's where nerves begin.

It's really frustrating to know that we depend on other drivers to keep traffic flow. The only thing you can do is avoid rush hour traffic and roads that are vulnerable to traffic jams. Also, try to keep a safe distance from the vehicle ahead of you so your braking will be as smooth as possible in case of a situation that requires braking. This way you will lower the chance of creating a huge traffic jam.

Drive safely (I nearly had an accident today, I'll tell you on Saturday).
Yours,
Nadav

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Surprising Traffic Congestion

One of the weirdest road conditions is a weird type of traffic congestion. You see it far away, reach it, slow down, and join the other cars. After crawling for several minutes (or hours), an even more surprising thing happens - the road clears and you can once again drive fast.

This weird phenomenon happens even outside of the rush hour times. Cars just slow down sometimes for no apparent reason and then speed up back. Nothing seems to cause it, it just happens.

It happened to me today. I was driving on the Coast Highway when I suddenly had to slow down for congested traffic. There was no car crash, no police, no nothing. Cars simply slowed down.

I don't know how this happens. If you can shed some light, please free to do so using the comments section. Maybe this mystery will be solved once and for all.

Have a great weekend,
Nadav

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A Driver's Worst Nightmare

Imagine this for a moment: this is the holiday you've been waiting for. You enter the car, exit your parking, go on the main road, accelerate to a nice 100 km/h, and then brake and stop. Ahead of you there are thousands of cars doing exactly the same thing: waiting. Welcome to the drivers' worst nightmare: a traffic jam.

Yes, this can be quite annoying. More accurately, extremely annoying. Even crawling traffic can make a driver go mad. Most accidents happen during bumper-to-bumper traffic, and for a good reason. Drivers lose focus. Moreover, cars are very close to each other. One second of turning the head, and your cars meets your neighbor's car.

I drove through quite a few traffic jams in my life, and I can tell you that it's really a driver's worst nightmare. Try to avoid them whenever possible.

So how do you avoid a traffic jam? Make sure you know what times are prone to congestion, and drive there before rush hour. Just try to be original with your time, otherwise thousands of other drivers will be there with you. And yes, this will cause another traffic jam. Not nice.

Have a great, flowing weekend!
Nadav

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