Commuting to and from work

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Deathwing

Deathwing

<Bronze Donator>
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Eomer_sl said:
I am also eagerly awaiting the advent of automated cars.
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Perhaps not automated cars, but I would love traffic lights that were contextually aware. I've got two lights on my commute that are hair trigger sensor lights. If anyone, just one fucking car, shows up on at the perpendicular intersection, the light immediately changes. Fuck those 5-10 cars that were travelling ~50MPH and now have to break for this asshole that could have turned right on red but won't. Or is in the process of turning right on red but the light still changes.

If the cars could communicate with the traffic lights, the lights could better control traffic in an efficient manner. Weight for 3+ cars to show up at the red light. Or wait until there's no oncoming traffic. Or make them wait at the red at least 10 seconds.
 
Pancreas

Pancreas

Vyemm Raider
1,135
3,831
10 minutes.

To drive into the office. After that we head out in the company vehicle to go wherever, but by that point I am on the clock so I don't care. I spend a good share of my time driving to job sites, but it doesn't really bother me at all because it's just part of the day. Then after work it's a quick ride home and I'm done.
 
K

Kaita

Golden Squire
125
1
Was driving 45 minutes one way for 3 years. Recently changed jobs and relocated and loving the 10 minute commute.
 
Dyvim

Dyvim

Bronze Knight of the Realm
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Deathwing_sl said:
Perhaps not automated cars, but I would love traffic lights that were contextually aware. I've got two lights on my commute that are hair trigger sensor lights. If anyone, just one fucking car, shows up on at the perpendicular intersection, the light immediately changes. Fuck those 5-10 cars that were travelling ~50MPH and now have to break for this asshole that could have turned right on red but won't. Or is in the process of turning right on red but the light still changes.

If the cars could communicate with the traffic lights, the lights could better control traffic in an efficient manner. Weight for 3+ cars to show up at the red light. Or wait until there's no oncoming traffic. Or make them wait at the red at least 10 seconds.
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You dont need automated cars for that, tech is allready in place. The only one ive encountered yet (traffic lights wise) is on my daily commuting route.
Traffic lights paired with cameras that count the cars and trucks and work the cycle on the amount of cars and the timespan they are allready waiting for green.
Best traffic routing ive ever expierenced so far, but prolly not cheap to implement or upgrade to everywhere.
 
I

Insomnia_sl

shitlord
263
7
Gotta say I am pretty lucky with my commute to work. 1.2miles away, 0 traffic lights and only 2 stop signs to deal with.
 
V

Vilgan_sl

shitlord
259
1
opiate82_sl said:
Every time I have to drive through Seattle I can't comprehend how people deal with commuting through that day-in-day-out. I see those estimated travel times for cities that are 15 miles away with hour+ commute times pretty much any time I am in the area during rush hour (which is pretty much from 6:00am-11:59pm in that city) and my mind is just blown that people deal with that 5 days a week. I'm sure I could put a dollar figure on dealing with it, but it is probably way higher than most of the businesses there would be willing to pay me. If I am in Seattle around 5:00pm I don't even bother trying to drive anywhere and just find a local brewery to chill at for a couple of hours.
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Yeah, the commutes some people put up with in the Seattle area are mindblowing. I live near the light rail and love the 20 minute total walk/ride commute time but I have coworkers who put up with 1+ hour commutes just so they can have a bigger house with a yard. North Seattle and especially Lynnwood are the worst. I made the mistake of trying to head back into Seattle at 5 PM once (reverse commute!!) from Lynnwood and it took me over 2 hours to make it the 15 miles or whatever to downtown. No accidents, just pure awful abysmal traffic.

I did the hour commute each way for 1.5 years and will never do that again even for a 30% pay increase. The quality of life improvement with reasonable commute is immense, especially if you can walk/ride instead of drive.
 
khalid

khalid

Unelected Mod
14,071
6,775
Long commutes suck. Everytime I think about them, I feel like all that commute time is sucking my life away.

 
Alex

Alex

Still a Music Elitist
14,718
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Vilgan_sl said:
Yeah, the commutes some people put up with in the Seattle area are mindblowing. I live near the light rail and love the 20 minute total walk/ride commute time but I have coworkers who put up with 1+ hour commutes just so they can have a bigger house with a yard. North Seattle and especially Lynnwood are the worst. I made the mistake of trying to head back into Seattle at 5 PM once (reverse commute!!) from Lynnwood and it took me over 2 hours to make it the 15 miles or whatever to downtown. No accidents, just pure awful abysmal traffic.

I did the hour commute each way for 1.5 years and will never do that again even for a 30% pay increase. The quality of life improvement with reasonable commute is immense, especially if you can walk/ride instead of drive.
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Fuuuck. I'm in Lynnwood right now for business. I should be leaving to head towards the airport around 3 and my flight takes off at 6. Sounds like I could be pushing it. Hopefully traffic doesn't blow that early.
 
Szlia

Szlia

Member
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I spent 3 hours a day commuting for a while, but 2h30 was spent on trains. Sleeping, reading, playing or watching TV series on my PSP made it bearable. I still would not do it again though.
 
Deathwing

Deathwing

<Bronze Donator>
16,956
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Dyvim_sl said:
You dont need automated cars for that, tech is allready in place. The only one ive encountered yet (traffic lights wise) is on my daily commuting route.
Traffic lights paired with cameras that count the cars and trucks and work the cycle on the amount of cars and the timespan they are allready waiting for green.
Best traffic routing ive ever expierenced so far, but prolly not cheap to implement or upgrade to everywhere.
Click to expand...
Yes, but if the cars can talk to the traffic light, it can be greatly improved. I don't think a camera can tell if a person is turning right(on red). At least, I don't think a camera economically feasible for a traffic light can. Also, I honestly don't know the range on traffic cameras. But their range needs to increase the higher the speed limit. I've also been stuck behind motorcycles where the camera didn't even register them and thus would never change. They usually end up running the light, which isn't safe.

Even just having traffic lights talk to each other would be great. Just open up one main artery of a road for about a minute, 5-6 lights all green to let a bunch of cars whiz through. Then turn all red again and allow the opposite roads in.
 
Brahma

Brahma

Obi-Bro Kenobi-X
12,703
47,494
1 hour each way. My job just purchased a new building and it cuts my commute to about 25 minutes come January. Thank god!
 
tad10

tad10

Elisha Dushku
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Szlia_sl said:
I spent 3 hours a day commuting for a while, but 2h30 was spent on trains. Sleeping, reading, playing or watching TV series on my PSP made it bearable. I still would not do it again though.
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Commutes on trains I never minded (used to commute Providence to Boston - about an hour IIRC) but I fucking hate my current daily traffic jam which is also about an hour but leaves me wanting to nuke the city or at least the other drivers.

Edit: Bottomline - we need more commuter trains in the US.
 
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