Am I imagining things, or does traffic get worse in the winter, especially after we go off daylight savings time? It seems like there are more cars, especially in the evening rush hour. Or maybe it's the same number of cars but they are somehow going slower?

12/20/2008 12:02:41 AM

Or more people out Xmas shopping?

12/20/2008 12:04:06 AM

I-40 definitely gets worse as soon as daylight savings time makes it get dark at 6:00 or earlier. Fucking loser drivers. You have headlights.

12/20/2008 12:11:06 AM

xmas shopping at southpoint

12/20/2008 12:13:05 AM

This has been going on for like 2 months.
The flow problems start at Davis Dr. and end at Wade Ave.
IT'S NOT CHRISTMAS SHOPPING.

btw...It would help if those asscrackers at SAS would merge when they get a chance as opposed to driving all the way to the end of the merge lane and then cutting someone off; forcing a chain reaction of brake slamming that fucks the whole system up.

evan, can you send a company wide memo or something telling them to quit driving like that?

[Edited on December 20, 2008 at 1:15 AM. Reason : l]

12/20/2008 1:12:52 AM

^ this is totally correct. I think that they need to put a median in between the wade/40 split further back....maybe it would help keep so many people from waiting till the last second to merge. This is the primary reason that 40 backs up out past davis dr everyday. Whenever I am behind someone that is trying to merge at the last second I usually beep my horn, give them the finger, etc...

12/20/2008 1:18:19 AM

^ at that point, its best to stay in the far left lanes around exit 291 and then pull a gangsta swerve there at the end to get on wade ave.

12/20/2008 1:24:14 AM

this thread is relevant to my interests

12/20/2008 2:11:28 AM

I deal with this almost 5 days a week coming from 147, down 40, all the way to Raleigh. As well as SAS traffic, dumbasses do not know whether to go Wade Ave. or stay on I-40 until the last second.

All of the back routes, such as Hwy. 54, completely suck too.

12/20/2008 2:14:42 AM

as someone who lives where there is a real winter, i'm getting a kick out of this thread

12/20/2008 2:46:03 AM

i don't know if they're specifically talking about the weather

just a range of months in this localized area

[Edited on December 20, 2008 at 10:47 AM. Reason : and I-40]

12/20/2008 10:40:22 AM

I think local/commuting traffic is worse in the fall and spring. There is less traffic when school is out, b/c you have less traffic directly related to schools (buses, people dropping off their kids in the same timeframe), and less traffic indirectly related (more people on vacation). Of course travel traffic is worse during the summer and holidays, and shopping traffic is at its worst before Christmas.

[Edited on December 20, 2008 at 10:49 AM. Reason : *in general, I don't live in NC or commute on I-40]

12/20/2008 10:49:04 AM

Quote :

"btw...It would help if those asscrackers at SAS would merge when they get a chance as opposed to driving all the way to the end of the merge lane and then cutting someone off; forcing a chain reaction of brake slamming that fucks the whole system up."

i, too, hate this

12/20/2008 10:55:11 AM

I live in Wilmington so traffic is actually 10x better in the winter due to all the tourists going the fuck back to where they came from

Quote :

"this is totally correct. I think that they need to put a median in between the wade/40 split further back....maybe it would help keep so many people from waiting till the last second to merge."

that shit used to burn me up on my daily commutes home from my co-op at Sony Ericsson.
I would take wade ave. , unless i tried to get over into the far right lane, there was always some ass crack who ignoring the 3 road signs advertising the split would wait to the very last minute to merge. OFten they would just stop on the 2nd lane from the right which splits into wade ave. and wait for someone on the I40 throughfare lanes to let them in. I got into a habit of just blaring my horn if i ever got stuck behind someone doing this and i was behind them.

12/20/2008 11:45:19 AM

maybe it would help if they could somehow put in a split lane at the merge that could go on either side...like at the 40w split with 147 going towards durham.

12/20/2008 12:18:52 PM

until there are 3 lanes from wade ave to 440 on 40 there cant be a split lane there

if the DOT erects a barrier, it will just move the problem back

it is amazing to me how many people dont pay attention there when the signs clearly state what is going to happen

12/20/2008 12:32:49 PM

they might just do what lots of asshats do

"signs don't pertain to me"

12/20/2008 1:52:21 PM

Quote :

"i don't know if they're specifically talking about the weather just a range of months in this localized area"

no, i get that

but what i'm saying is

to say the traffic is "worse" just because it seems like there are more people on the road is pretty funny to me, since up here our version of "worse" is ICE AND SNOW

yeah - i'm one of those people now...

12/20/2008 2:05:20 PM

lol

you're starting to sound like

EVER DRIVE IN A HURRICANE WHILE A VOLCANO WAS GOING OFF?

RAWR RAWR RAWR

[Edited on December 20, 2008 at 2:19 PM. Reason : +]

12/20/2008 2:13:14 PM

yes

12/20/2008 2:14:06 PM

This winter has been pretty rainy so far, and I'm beginning to think that Triangle area drivers are as bad at driving in the rain as they are at driving in the snow.

When it rains, everyone on 40 and 440 seems to slow down to 35 mph, and then slam on their brakes every 100 yards, all without turning on their headlights.

12/20/2008 3:10:02 PM

Quote :

"btw...It would help if those asscrackers at SAS would merge when they get a chance as opposed to driving all the way to the end of the merge lane and then cutting someone off; forcing a chain reaction of brake slamming that fucks the whole system up."

i, too, do this

12/20/2008 3:10:38 PM

it's just a theory i have, but i think more people really are on the roads around rush hour off daylight savings, it's not simply an illusion. i think there are several logical reasons:

-in general, people want to be home as close to before/at dark as possible. in the winter, that means 5:30ish. in the months when it doesn't get dark until later, i think there is a big chunk of working people who hang around the office a little longer. whether it be talking to someone, finishing that last bit of work, etc. even a difference as small as a few minutes can have a drastic affect on traffic. then you've got all the non working people (soccer moms, people taking a day off, whatever) that are out an about doing their thing. now you've got all of them trying to make it home during rush hour from the grocery store, picking the kids up from after school activities, and anything else.

-any sort of trade type job that involves needing natural light is done at 5 or 5:30 at the latest during the winter. if it's a real cold day, then you've even got some extra people who might have access to lighting but they're still exposed to the elements so they quit at sunset because the temp is dropping. in the warmer months, a lot of these people are either starting a little earlier and quitting earlier to avoid some of the late afternoon heat, or they're working longer hours to take advantage of the extra daylight. so, now you've got all these roofers, electricians, carpenters, plumbers, etc., etc. on the roads during that magical time too.

-on a much smaller scale than the two above, you've got the vacation factor. i don't know this to be fact, but i would bet that on most any given day during the warmer months you've got a higher percentage of people out of work taking vacation time. that might be people taking a week to go somewhere, a long weekend, or even just an afternoon because the weather is nice or some other spring/summer activity. sure, you've got a lot of people taking days here and there for thanksgiving, christmas, and new years... but that's only a few days total, and most people are taking the same days as everyone else. i feel fairly confident that overall, the warmer months carry a much higher rate of absence.

-another group that would be relatively minor is people who purposely adjust their work schedule around the traditional school year. that includes people such as teachers, administration, and any other applicable school system employees. it could also include any parents that may normally work past 5pm, but change their start/stop times at work so they can be home earlier to the kids, take them to basketball practice, help with homework, or fix dinner for the family.

-lastly, the final minor group is people who purposely adjust their work schedules to better correlate with being on or off daylight savings. say rather than working say 9am-6pm when the days are longer, they switch to 8am-5pm when the time changes. this is one i'd never even thought of until i learned that my aunt adjusts her work schedule like that. she works for the state, and says that a lot of state agencies have very flexible schedules as long as you're not constantly bouncing around and you're getting your full hours in for the week. i can only assume that certain positions or companies in the private sector would allow the same. to me, this sounds like an excellent idea that should become mainstream. it makes perfect sense to me that if we're shifting the whole day back (or forward) an hour, then any work or school schedule should do the same. that's assuming we're going to stick with the dated, or possibly outdated, concept of daylight savings. someone correct me if i'm wrong, but wasn't it largely if not primarily implemented due to agriculture? giving farmers "an extra hour" of daylight during harvesting times or something? pretty sure i've heard/read energy conservation listed as a main reason also. anyway, i guess that's a different discussion.

sorry for all the *words*, but obviously it's a phenomenon i've noticed also and probably thought too much about. i've come up with other little things that could contribute also, but the ones i listed are the ones i feel like are the most likely to be occuring. the first two being the major ones. just those two alone would provide the higher volume around rush hour to be noticeable.

12/20/2008 8:01:03 PM

Quote :

"another group that would be relatively minor is people who purposely adjust their work schedule around the traditional school year. that includes people such as teachers, administration, and any other applicable school system employees."

I think you underestimate the effect school being in session has on traffic. There is quite a very noticable difference espicially
on local roads when school is running and not.

Quote :

"an hour, then any work or school schedule should do the same. that's assuming we're going to stick with the dated, or possibly outdated, concept of daylight savings. someone correct me if i'm wrong, but wasn't it largely if not primarily implemented due to agriculture? giving farmers "an extra hour" of daylight during harvesting times or something"

fuck that saying daylight savings is outdated is blasphemy. I dread when daylights saving time ends in early Nov. It is so popular in fact that the US
actually increased the length of DLS almost an extra month; one week into Nov and 3 weeks earlier into mid-march.

Farmers though are some of the main opponents of daylight savings and one of the reasons we switch back to regualar time in the
late fall to ensure during shorter days farmers have sunlight in the morning. This is partially why some staets in the mid-west
do not even use day light savings time.

The benefits of Daylights savings go well beyond just saving energy in the evening.

12/20/2008 8:22:31 PM

i hate it

i wish that we would pick one or the other and stick with it

12/20/2008 8:26:57 PM

^^no, i don't underestimate it at all. i just wanted to specifically address the particular people i mentioned. sometimes employees and working parents are over looked in what a lot of people might consider the "back to school traffic" (which had already been generally mentioned.

as for daylight savings, i think i wasn't quite clear in what i was saying. i was trying to say that the time period of being OFF daylight savings might be outdated due to agriculture not playing the huge role in our society that it used to. if anything is to change totally one way or the other, i'm of the opinion that daylight savings should become the year round standard. either that, or we learn to readjust everything as we know it to occur an hour earlier than it does now. obviously the former would make more sense/be easier.

12/20/2008 8:40:23 PM

it's because of christmas shopping.

12/20/2008 11:17:52 PM

12/21/2008 8:22:36 PM

lawl at the mall crawler

12/21/2008 8:24:55 PM

those motherfuckers that can't figure out whether they want to stay on 40 or get off on Wade piss me off to no end. if it weren't for the equally retarded asshats pouring out of SAS at the same time, the right lane would move along well...but NOOO, those fucktards have to get over four lanes at the last fucking second. I-40 is bullshit

/rant

12/21/2008 8:43:40 PM

US1 South is always terrible this time of year because the sun sets during rush hour following the line of the highway between Western and Jones Franklin. You can't see anything because you've got the sun right in your eyes, right there level with the highway. That +
the general stupidity of having the exit for Western be a tight loop that requires a significant slowdown on the highway to safely maneuver +
people merging from Western on the left at that same point in the highway +
an exit every half mile leading up to that.

12/21/2008 9:17:51 PM

the first 3 miles of I440 is in DESPERATE need of reconditioning.

Lets not forget the whole 300 feet of on-ramp for the Melbourne exit. Half the time during AM rush hour i close my eyes and pray else i'm running off the road.

12/22/2008 12:03:47 AM

Until I-40 is 4 lanes from exit 312 to around 280 it'll always be fucked. In fact, even after that it'll still be fucked because somehow people who have been driving to and from work on the interstate for years still won't be able to figure out which fucking exit is theirs. I'm just amazed that people can't figure out that ideally the left lane is always for passing only, the middle lanes (if applicable) are for through traffic and the far right lane is for merging on/exiting. Slower traffic keep right, fucking signal your lane changes, and get the fuck over when your exit is coming up.

12/22/2008 1:02:38 AM

Most people are mindless sheep or they just don't give a fuck.

12/22/2008 9:17:28 AM

i stay in the merge lane off exit 293 as long as possible and then slip in front of a slow accelerator/big truck

i hate the asshats that are presented with an interstate and it's like "I GOTTA MERGE NOW"

[Edited on December 22, 2008 at 9:34 AM. Reason : ah and no- traffic seems the same all season Ø]

12/22/2008 9:34:21 AM

I think traffic is worse this time of year b/c of the sun's low position in the sky. In the morning on I-40 the sun is either right in your eyes or behind you, which makes it difficult to see cars behind you (which is why I leave my headlights on in that instance). I also agree with a lot of what Ivan stated, it makes pretty good sense.

12/22/2008 11:00:58 AM

Quote :

"btw...It would help if those asscrackers at SAS would merge when they get a chance as opposed to driving all the way to the end of the merge lane and then cutting someone off; forcing a chain reaction of brake slamming that fucks the whole system up."

Quote :

"i, too, hate this"

Quote :

"Whenever I am behind someone that is trying to merge at the last second I usually beep my horn, give them the finger, etc..."

You guys are wrong. Merging later is better for traffic flow, because you're using the maximum capacity of the highway for as long as possible. The catch is that drivers maintain space to let mergers in. A big space prevents break slamming.

Quote :

"While doing all of the above, I once caught myself behaving normally and creating a huge traffic wave. What a hypocrite! Bad habits die hard. Traffic was heavy and I was in the left lane. I had to merge across several lanes in order to get to my exit. I merged right once, but the next lane was packed solid (but it was still moving, not jammed.) Nobody would let me in. I drove like this for a long while, then started driving fairly slowly in order to drift backwards along the lane. I found a slot and got in, but now I had to merge right once more. Many minutes had passed, and my exit was coming up. The right lane was packed solid, NOBODY WAS LETTING ME IN. I drove slower and slower, and in a panic I finally forced my way into a small gap, making the guy behind me jam on brakes. After awhile I realized that I had just created a huge traffic wave with my behavior. Just like any rubbernecker I had suddenly slowed way down for no good reason. But I had an excuse, I had to get to my exit! To make matters worse, I had nearly come to a complete stop, and brought two entire lanes of traffic to a near halt too. I probably left a long-term traffic wave at that spot on the highway. But it wasn't my fault! Yeah, suuuure. In stewing about this I realized that EVERYONE has this same problem: an inability to merge in dense traffic. Others were probably doing the exact same thing that I did, and this would make the "wave" near the exit worse and worse. Our inability to change lanes would create a "dynamic bottleneck" which hovers near the exit. Obviously the simple cure is to give up; not merge, and miss the exit. I should never have forced the issue, I should have let my exit go past. And so should all the other merging drivers. But there is a bigger issue here. People SHOULD be able to merge. Why was traffic packed so tightly? One obvious reason: to punish the idiots who will jump into any little space. I had always done the same myself. I never allow a space to appear ahead of me, or some other driver will immediately swerve into it during their quest to cheat by running to the front of the line. But this sort of "closed-gap" driving would also prevent any necessary merges at off ramps (and at on ramps too, of course.) By eliminating the space ahead of me, I become part of the impenetrable wall which creates the "dynamic bottleneck" and screws up the traffic at highway ramps. The gear teeth cannot mesh, so the whole machine grinds to a halt. The "zipper" becomes jammed because the "teeth" of the zipper are resentful about new teeth moving into the space ahead of them. The jammed merging lanes are almost a city's gridlock. Smart city drivers never block intersections, since blocked intersections will freeze all traffic permanently. But we highway drivers are ignorant. We close up the gaps when others need to merge. And our behavior creates needless "highway gridlock" during every single rush hour. "

12/22/2008 12:54:15 PM

I disagree. Successful merging actually doesn't depend on where in the ramp you merge, but how fast you are going when you merge. I could care less whether someone merges at the end or the beginning of the ramp as long as they make it smooth...and the only way to do that is to get up to speed as fast as possible. That way, you don't need as much of a gap to merge into.

12/22/2008 1:26:41 PM

Quote :

" You guys are wrong. Merging later is better for traffic flow"

you are 100% wrong for high capacity times like rush hour.

A driver stopping in what is to be the left Wade Ave lane to await an opening or a driver cutting off someone forcing them to slam the brakes in the I40 lanes is NOT "betteR for traffic flow"

12/22/2008 1:41:00 PM

lol you didn't read anything in my post!

12/22/2008 1:49:42 PM

your right i just felt like arguing

12/22/2008 2:46:10 PM

Quote :

"You guys are wrong. Merging later is better for traffic flow, because you're using the maximum capacity of the highway for as long as possible. The catch is that drivers maintain space to let mergers in. A big space prevents break slamming."

You aren't considering the bottleneck effect.
Only x amount of traffic can flow through four lanes.
There is five lanes worth of traffic at that point that has to merge down into four lanes in a relatively short piece of tarmac.
The most efficient way to make this work is for all bandwidth in lanes 1-4 to be efficiently used.
Efficient use means that you get into one of the four lanes when you see an opening (available bandwidth) and therefore you do not disrupt the flow of traffic in those four lanes.
It becomes inefficient when there are enough drivers trying to drive all the way to the bottleneck and then jump in at the last second. The last two drivers in lane four can't leave enough of a gap to make up for 5 assholes who want to merge at the last second. Thus, the brake slamming effect is inevitable.

I leave room for people to merge for the first 1/2 of the entrance ramp. It is not uncommon for people to drive right beside my open lane while waiting for other people to merge so that they can jump on the gas and try to pass some more cars. After the first 1/2 I close the gap and don't let anyone in. This has resulted in quite a few unhappy people, but I try to make it a point not to worry about offending the bottom 10 percentile of society.

The funniest recent experience was a girl in a pickup truck who insisted on being in front of me. There was a huge dump truck behind me that left at least a 20 car gap yet for some dumb reason she drove past the 20 car gap and turned her turn signal on to tell me that I needed to back up and let her in front of me. To top it all off, she gave some very nasty hand gestures when I wouldn't let her in. A southern belle indeed.

[Edited on December 22, 2008 at 3:20 PM. Reason : l]

12/22/2008 3:12:52 PM

Quote :

"on to tell me that I needed to back up and let her in front of me. To top it all off, she gave some very nasty hand gestures when I wouldn't let her in."

that is when i drop it into 4th and close the gap with the car in front of me. It feels great to be in the higher percentile for speed in the car food chain

12/22/2008 4:12:54 PM

Oh, don't worry; she was giving those gestures from behind me.

12/22/2008 9:38:53 PM

there was some fucking import from mexico (who obviously lived in gwinnett county) that was riding my ass on buford highway (4 lane divided)

well traffic was stopped about 600 yards ahead so there was no reason to drive 20 over like usual (55 zone)

i am in the right lane doing 60 and she is flashing her high beams at me

so i wave my hand like what do you want me to do

about 1000 yards later in the thick of traffic she drives up the shoulder, gets in front of me, gets out of thw car and flips me offtwice

what a fucking cunt

12/22/2008 10:13:03 PM

Quote :

"i am in the right lane doing 60 and she is flashing her high beams at me"

Does slower traffic keep left, and faster traffic pass right in Mexico???????????

I remember a couple occasions like this. One time on US-64 in between Asheboro and Raleigh some mexican fuck started riding all up on my ass. I am no grandma driver to begin with, was going probably like 65 in the 55 and I was in the RIGHT lane! Yet instead of passing me on the left he stayed on my ass so close that I could probably brush his teeth. Getting pissed off i started tapping the brakes and he got irrate and giving me the finger while honking.

Finally after like 10 minutes he finally figured out that here in Fucking America the passing lane is on the left and as long as I am in the right lane I can drive 50 in the 55 if I fucking feel like it.

12/22/2008 11:03:45 PM

In a reverse situation i remember driving down Avent Ferry with some fat mexican bitch going 40 KMH in the left lane even though the speed limit is 40 MPH while in the left lane. I finally gave up hoping she'd get over and passed her on the right. If she was about to turn left i might have excused her but i saw in my rear view that she eventually got in the right lane to turn on athens drive.

12/22/2008 11:44:01 PM

Quote :

"Does slower traffic keep left, and faster traffic pass right in Mexico???????????"

inorite?

im guessing she was just pissed because while she was 5 feet from me, i had 20 car lengths to the car in front of me

i have had way too many close calls to tailgate people, its just not worth it and you dont get any where any faster

[Edited on December 22, 2008 at 11:45 PM. Reason : 

12/22/2008 11:45:32 PM

i love it when people race to get to teh red stop light!

12/23/2008 12:14:44 AM

set em up

12/23/2008 11:21:48 AM