Monday, May 18, 2009

Stamford Talk Delivers 95 Traffic DUH

The Advocate tells me that "Exit 4 traffic disruptions may last until next spring." This is one of many reasons I will only ever live in Stamford or Greenwich as long as my husband and I work in Stamford/Greenwich. The year we lived in Norwalk, I almost lost my mind sitting in traffic. (I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say I'll rent in Stamford for the rest of my life rather than buy in Norwalk.) I haven't had too many problems at exit 4- I've learned to watch my back and not go under the bridge while I'm beside a speeding, huge, rickety tractor trailer who can't stay in the swervily-drawn lanes. I don't drive on 95 much these days, but for those of you who DO have to go on 95 and deal with exit 4 on a regular basis, listen to this ABSURD tip from a state cop:
DOT officials also said motorists could play a part in preventing back-ups along the interstate. "There are signs telling people to bear left because the right lanes are closed," [state cop Lt. Vance] said. "Instead you get drivers trying to get ahead, and it creates this backup where people go right to the very end and then try to sneak in at the bottle neck. If the traveling public obeyed those patterns when they saw the warning signs, there really wouldn't be as much of a problem." Well, DUH.

If human beings, with human brains, and human stress levels, didn't exist, we wouldn't have punks speeding by the long lines of people who dutifully merge when they are supposed to. I can only shake my head at him pointing out that if all people were nice and respectful, we wouldn't have so many traffic issues. Duh, duh, DUH.

The article promises another year of construction at exit 4, and that's the only advice?

4 comments:

David T said...

Since we can't do anything about people who think they're so special that they can get ahead that way, we can resist the temptation to not let them in when they try to get back into your lane. It turns out that not letting them in makes the traffic jam even worse.
Go figure.

Stamford Talk said...

David, you are so right, and that's a much better tip than the one the cop gave!

Streets of Stamford said...

If I were the cop, I would've said something like "I'm sure most drivers are sane people who understand the situation and will do their best to be considerate of other drivers. Unfortunately, they'll also have to contend with a bunch of d-bags in 24-ton GMC Yukons who don't believe in signaling, merging, or using their mirrors."

SchlubbyNProud said...

Little trick I do when two lanes are about to narrow to one. I kind of inhabit both lanes so no one can speed past and cut in at the last second. I know, it's nerdy but it works! I don't know why more people don't do it.

Also, when an on-ramp is merging into very heavy slow traffic, why don't people use the zipper method? Every car that's already in the far right lane needs to let one car in front of it. Moves everything along quicker.