6 ways to help prevent traffic congestion
You can help ease rush hour traffic
There are always going to be certain times of the day when there is traffic congestion. Morning and Evening ‘rush-hours’ are the worst but there are ways your own driving habits can help minimise the magnitude of congestion out there.
The Phantom Traffic Jam - an explanation
Easy on the brakes
Believe it or not, hitting your brakes frequently helps create a traffic accordion as drivers behind will inevitably replicate your action. This slows everybody down and makes congestion worse. If traffic is stop-and-go, drive slowly enough so that you are not braking every few seconds
Don’t surge ahead
Give your brakes a break. Don’t speed up every time there’s a tiny break in the traffic.By doing this, you are just wasting more petrol and you will be contributing to the waste of everyone else’s fuel as other drivers speed up to follow you. By braking all the time because you are travelling too fast in traffic and going in spurts, you only keep the stop-and-go traffic pattern alive. You’re not going to get anywhere faster than anyone else in heavy traffic, so try to relax and drive slowly enough that you are neither braking nor hitting the brake pedal needlessly.
Give yourself space
Stop tailgating the car in front of you, as it won’t get you very far and it may slow you down even more in the long run. Try and give yourself a car length of space between your front end and the next car. This will allow you the time to decide whether or not you need to apply the brakes or gas to keep the traffic flow moving.
Avoid gawking
Rubberneckers are a huge cause of traffic congestion. You may be bored and just plain nosey about what's going on in the other carriageway and what those blue lights are for but you are only adding to the traffic misery for everybody else. Don’t be that person who slows down and rolls down their window for a good gawk.
Drive a different route
As you drive the same route almost every day on your commute, you should have some idea which roads are the busiest at rush hour and which are less busy. Can you change your schedule to drive during a less busy time of day? Can you leave earlier for work maybe? It's better to be in work a bit earlier and enjoying a cup of coffee on the gained time than to be stuck in traffic bedlam. Of course, many just can’t do that but there may be other routes that we could take that may carve off a bit of time on our journey?
Carpool or choose different transportation
If you can take a bicycle, bus, or train on your commute, this can be great but again this solution will not favour everyone. Carpooling is another good way to lessen traffic congestion, as this would most certainly mean fewer cars on the road. An added bonus of carpooling is that we can have others to talk to on our journey which will help make the drive seem even shorter.
By being an educated and considerate driver, it will go a long way in helping to ease the worsening traffic congestion. Every small measure taken by each individual driver will only contribute to a meaningful dent in the traffic time and make your commute and the commute of every other road user a bit quicker and easier.
Author
Justin Kavanagh
Justin Kavanagh is a recognised leader
in automotive intelligence and vehicle
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He has almost 20 years experience in
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As the Managing Director of Vehicle
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