Supposedly, the average American spends 38 hours stuck in traffic a year. I imagine if you live near a major city like Washington, DC, you experience much more than that.
Since living in Australia, I suspect we have spent 1-2 hours in traffic. It makes a difference when you don't drive a car nearly as often, but even when we do it is simply very rare that encounter traffic. Obviously there are less people in this country, but in general there is better infrastructure that minimizes the need for driving, which eliminates the traffic for those who do drive. Buses, trains, and bike commuting reduce the regular peak hour traffic. If people travel between major cities more than about a two hour drive away, they tend to fly.
If Michael and I were going to leave the DC area for a weekend getaway, we would simply expect for our driving time to be increased by an hour or two no matter what direction we were heading. Here, we just don't need to factor in extra time like that. It has been nice to live mostly without that frustration.
No comments:
Post a Comment