this post was submitted on 05 Aug 2023
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Fuck Cars
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Houstonian of 30+ years here.
Even with the insane number of lanes available, driving anywhere inside beltway 8 between like 12 pm and 8pm is hell on earth. And outside those hours, you’re playing chicken with drunk drivers.
Before I started working remote, I used to clock my average speed to and from work. Most of the time it was 15-20mph on a 65mph freeway. Literally bicycle speeds. Without cars or gridlocked traffic, I could have commuted faster on a bike.
More than one person dies in Houston traffic every day on average. This is probably the shittiest and most expensive form of mass transit mankind will ever build. At least I hope this is as bad as it ever gets, lol.
It's absolutely insane how many people die every single day because we thought it was a good idea to let everyone operate multi-ton pieces of heavy machinery at hundreds of km per hour on the reg.
How the fuck is there more regular testing and training for people driving forklifts than Dodge Rams?
Simple, if you fuck up on a forklift you are damaging company property.
And as we all know, company property has more rights than people.
To be fair, those forklifts can be quite dangerous. Just ask Klaus.
Klaus seems like a fine dude
Seemed* 😔
Last time I was in Houston I was driving in bumper-to-bumper traffic that was going 95 mph. I looked over to my right and saw a group of five cars pass me going at least 10 to 20 mph faster. This would not have been remarkable except that I was in the right lane and these cars were passing me on the shoulder.
This being Houston, though, that's still probably not remarkable.
Can confirm, this happens a lot too. That level of recklessness should be remarkable, but that's just how people roll around here. There's a special sort of Houston PTSD that comes from almost dying in a car on the way to work every single day.
Is that a typo? Or were you actually bumper to bumper going 95 mph? That seems like some death race material
Unfortunately I don't think that is a typo, lol. Death race is definitely how I would describe the I-45 Houston experience. If I'm not mistaken, the section of it that runs through Houston is actually one of the most dangerous stretches of road in the entire US. People absolutely tailgate at 90+ on that road.
NOT a typo. 95mph and bumper-to-bumper.
Imagine the insides of your lungs after years of that.
Air quality (or rather the lack thereof) is a problem in parts of Houston. If you ever want to go down an internet rabbit hole, google the Houston cancer clusters. Or the Brio superfund (not superfun) site. I try not to think about it when I'm outside taking a walk 🫠
Read again.
I live in a medium-sized city and I learned years ago that if you want to get anywhere on time, stay off the freeway. It's not nearly as wide, but it has on ramps at shit intervals and the on ramps mostly give you no room to accelerate to highway speeds, so it's always congested. I'm actually about to go a couple towns south as I write this and looking at GPS the freeway route which is the most direct will take 20 minutes longer than simply going through back country roads that add an addition 10 miles to the trip.
Freeways cause traffic by creating bottlenecks.
I spent a week in vacation down in Galveston. Being a Chicagoan, I would have said that Chicago traffic was worse before that week. But it's not. Houston traffic is constant and with worse drivers. Chicago drivers are just trying to get someplace, as quickly as possible.
I've visited a lot of cities around the US and can confirm this. Most other places I go, people drive fast and aggressive, but predictable. In Houston it's just all over the place. You'll see people doing 30 under in the passing lane, and people doing 90+ on the shoulder. You'll get passed on the left and right simultaneously even though you're going over the speed limit. And everything in between.
How far did you have jt to work? Woukd it technically be cyclable (albeit not on the freeway)?
I'm sure another lane or two will fix the problem!
Going 20 mph for any distance on a bike includes and assumption of good health, includes carrying a change of clothes, and shower which most workplace don't offer.
This is true, particularly in the brutal heat this summer. My mind just turns to selfish solutions when I'm stuck in bumper to bumper traffic.
You would think that somewhere between the 10th and 26th lane of this urban hellscape, someone calling the shots would stop to ask "hey guys, y'all think maybe there's a better way to do this?" But since this is 'murca, that guy probably got fired and replaced by some ex-executive of a company best known for its crimes against nature.
Or an eBike