Slashdot Mirror
Solutions for Avoiding Traffic?
gregwbrooks asks: "Technology lets us wardrive and kludge together interesting uses for the OnStar equipment in our vehicles, but what about the one thing I really need: On-demand, real-time traffic information? These guys have a BREW-based app that downloads real-time traffic maps to your cell phone -- it just rolled out in Chicago and Milwaukee, and apparently is going national soon. What other options are out there for someone who doesn't want to fiddle around with tiny web pages on his phone while driving?"
If only there were some kind of wireless information distribution mechanism where a human could give traffic reports vocally. Reports from different places could be communicated across different "channels" from different wireless broadcasting "stations". Since traffic isn't always a problem, and since people aren't always interested in traffic, these channels could also distribute other types of information, perhaps even audio entertainment. The only problem is how to pay for it. Wait, I got it! Audio commercial advertisements! Perhaps some day all cars will come equipped with one of these receiver devices as standard equipment.
What would be very slick would be an open source system that integrates with wireless data (GPRS, EDGE, WCDMA, WiFi -- take your pick) and GPS to project onto your windshield in heads-up-display (HUD) manner what the traffic conditions are ahead of you. Being open source, you could then add whatever modules interest you so that your HUD could indicate when you are near a Starbucks, state park, 2600 meeting location, weather conditions ahead, or whatever you might want to know while driving. Heck, with a system like that motorists could even pinpoint the locations of speed traps for each other. Imagine your HUD flashing a red warning of "speed trap 1500 meters ahead"...
You can dial 511 on your phone in San Fransico and give your starting point end and end point and it will give you a real time traffic assesment and the time from point A to point B. With some pretty cool voice regonition software.
Story about automated traffic in SF
I had a 55 mile commute for a while, right through the heart of Minneapolis, and through the worst strechs of traffic in the twin cities. I looked at all the traffic info I could, but in the end I rarely changed my route. Sure I had a few alternates, but a couple miles of stop and go is still faster than any of the alternates that take me 20 miles out of the way. Side streets do not go through, nobody wants traffic in their neighborhood (the kids can and do play ball in the street) so they make it impossible to take anything but major routes. Combine that with traffic lights timed to stop you on the secondary streets and you are much better off stoped on the freeway than moving on a "empty" side street.
Course public transportation would be better, if it worked... I'm not holding my breath.
XM Radio just added over 20 channels for most major metropolitan areas that give you a quick 5 minute traffic and weather report. Find out if your city is listed here.
Of course, the cost of the hardware and the monthly subscription fee may turn many off.
Remember, the #1 cause of traffic jams is traffic. The best way to avoid traffic jams is to not drive.
As soon as everyone starts using fancy new technowidgets to find alternate routes routes to traffic jams, traffic will be routed to those alternate routes. Unfortunately, the alternate routes usually won't be able to handle alot of traffic, so the alternate routes will get jammed up as well.
If you get some new device today it would probably give you the edge up for a few years. But just think of what else you could spend that $1000 on.
Around here, we have spent $billions to build new freeways and roads to reduce "Traffic congestion", however these new roads always end up being just as clogged as the old routes.
I've been riding my bike & taking public transit to work for 7 years now, and it's great.
"Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
XM Radio just started broadcasting about 25 channels of 24 hour Traffic. It's great, as my city is one of the ones covered. No affiliation, just a happy user.
Not as drastic as giving up driving or moving closer...
Change your schedule by 15-30 minutes.
Awhile back, I realized that if I left my house at 7:30 I'd get through traffic and land at work at 8:30, BUT if I left my house at 8:15 (45 minutes later) I could get to work by 8:45. That's a half hour cut off my commute each way, or an hour a day, gained by simply letting everybody else fight to get to work first. When the masses are mostly in town and parked, I leave my house. My work hours are only shifted 15 minutes! I arrive at 8:45 instead of 8:30, I save an hour a day on my commute, not to mention the reduced gas consumption, pollution, and aggravation.
Leaving 45 minutes earlier just to sit still on the parkway did seem pretty silly. Am I the only one with a wee bit of flexibility in my schedule?
Operator, give me the number for 911!
You don't sit in the traffic jam; you are the traffic jam. -- Werner Icking
On the nights I have chorus rehearsals I drive to work. Because that's after the morning rush hour, I drive to work in the fast line, but I leave a decent space in front of me in case the cars in front get nervous.
In the evening, traffic on the 401 can be bad .. that's when I start in the slow lane while everyone else is battling for space in the fast line, but by the time they're fighting their way off the highway, I'm back in the fast lane again.
Whatever lane I'm in, I always try to leave a few carlengths in front .. what that does is to allow me to absorb the shock waves that propogate back through traffic during rush hour. It looks like I'm being an idiot by the cars behind me, but they probably don't realize that they're going at a constant speed rather than speeding up, braking, speeding up, braking, speeding up, braking. Which one do you think is better for your car and your mileage?
And please, Slower Traffic Keep Right!
"What other options are out there for someone who doesn't want to fiddle around with tiny web pages on his phone while driving?"
Just sit back, relax and enjoy it. People, especially in the US, seem to develop a habit of making themselves frustrated over traffic. Poor time planning, habitual generalized aggression, assumed impatience for no real reason, whatever, people get irritated over something that getting irritated about only makes worse.
Give yourself plenty of time, take it easy and relax. How often do you get a good excuse to get away from everyone and chill? Use it. Hell, take the slow route.
"I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B