Peak traffic

Each and every morning then again every afternoon, our community has peak traffic events. The most people are out operating their cars at that time. This morning I was a part of Columbia's peak traffic.

Plenty of room for all modes on the roads! And he sort of looks like me.
Credit: Vancouver Sun

My work allows me to arrive at the office within a certain range of time. I come home within a range of time. Most mornings I time my departure from home for just after I observe the peak of traffic to have passed. This morning I chose to make my exit a few minutes early, which coincided with me being on the road at a time with more than average traffic. Most mornings I scan behind me and usually there isn't a car there. Sometimes is, usually isn't. This morning almost every time I scanned there was a car there. Just a few minutes made all the difference between a chill commute to work and navigating a lot of cars!

Yesterday a journalism student stuck the camera in my face and I shared with him - and perhaps KOMU's viewers* - my thoughts on Columbia's proposed bag ban, which mirrors my sentiments about traffic. We are a highly advanced civilization. We have the organizational abilities to get by and use a lot fewer resources. For instance staggering start and end times for workers could spread traffic out across time. On a similar note, we could probably figure out how to get by without single-use plastic bags. Humans have probably done so for 99.9% of human existence.

I'll ride in peak traffic once in a while to remind myself how most folks commute. Then, for the ease on their minds and mine, I'll spread my work start and end times out again so as to have more wide open streets on which to bicycle around.

See you in the streets, Trevor

*Not sure what's on the KOMU news at 10. I'mm too busy listening to classical music or petting the cats or thinning my lettuce.