Robert Bruegmann thinks folks in LA should stop getting so worked up about the traffic:
Even when speeds on the freeway decline to 20 mph, drivers throughout the Los Angeles area move more quickly than they do by car or public transportation at the center of almost any large, older city in Europe or the United States.
True enough. I live a 45 minute walk from my work, and the bus ride, which is a ppretty straight shot, barely saves me a moment. Public transportation is simply slower. And yet, I'm infinitely happier watching the wheels on my bus go round and round than I was sitting parked on the 405 South. I'd happily drive for an 75 minutes at 60 mph then crawl for 45 minutes at 15 mph. So the reaction to traffic, I'd submit, is partially psychological, and grounded in a finding that happiness researchers continue to tout: Humans hate to do nothing. From the New York magazine guide to happiness I linked earlier:
Take the local, and don't wait for the express.
Inaction, on the other hand, gnaws away at the mind relentlessly, like so many rats chewing on an empty Mountain Dew bottle someone dropped onto the tracks as you idly waited for the 4. You should have just jumped on the 6.
It's not that LA traffic takes so too long, it's that you're inching forward when you know you should have your foot all the way down the gas pedal. It's your inaction in the face of your need for action that frustrates, not the time you've wasted en route.
