Explaining the Different Types of Traffic Jams
Imagine this: You’re on a long trip and have finally found a sign that indicates that the upcoming exit has your favorite restaurant, hotels, and more. You relax a bit as you and your bladder feel assured that relief is only a few miles away. Your heart sinks, however, as your eyes catch a stagnant glint on the road you’re driving.
A large line of cars is sitting, completely stalled, and you’re now at the back. You’ve encountered a traffic jam—why did this happen, and will you ever be able to reach the bathroom? While we can’t answer the latter, we’ll try and cover the former.
Before we discuss traffic jam types, causes and ways to avoid them, let’s lead by reminding you to stay on the road, don’t drive onto the shoulder and to remain a defensive driver even when stuck in a jam.
People often get into a rush and throw safety out the window to try and save a few minutes, but this endangers both themselves and those around them. If someone doing this causes you or a loved one harm, contact us and we’ll tell you what to know about the personal injury case timeline and help you get what you deserve.
Recurring Jams
There are two different types of traffic jams: recurring jams and nonrecurring jams. Non recurring jams will be covered in the next section so we can give each type the focus they deserve. For now, let’s explain recurring jams. Recurring traffic jams are periods of traffic congestion that occur on a regular basis.
For example, if a highway near you is always backed up around lunch time, that’s a recurring traffic jam. These typically happen early in the morning as people head to work and school, in the afternoon around lunchtime and in the late afternoon or evening as people return home from work or school.
While these jams are expected and are always massive headaches, they are also predictable. This allows you to plan ahead and for the city to come up with methods of controlling traffic to mitigate this issue. This may include expanding the size of the highway and warning travelers of these busy periods to convince them to change their travel times.
Non Recurring Jams
Non recurring traffic jams are when temporary incidents cause a traffic jam. Construction work blocking off a lane on a busy highway is a good example of a non recurring jam. While these are temporary and potentially uncommon, they have a variety of causes and can be quite surprising to travelers.
The solutions to this kind of congestion must be quick and aggressive. This may include setting up a detour sign and detour road, having a police officer control the flow of traffic for a bit or warning people of upcoming bad weather in advance to allow them to either plan a new route or prepare for longer commutes.
Traffic Jam Causes
Traffic jams have a wide range of different causes, from infrastructure and environmental to human and mechanical. Infrastructural causes include potholes and construction work. While potholes can’t be planned for in advance most of the time, construction work can be and often is.
It can take anywhere from weeks to years for a construction plan to be created, finalized and permitted. This allows city officials to plan for closed lanes and detours and to warn the public ahead of time about the upcoming work. While the construction can still cause jams, the precautions taken beforehand will assist in minimizing the extent of these jams.
Environmental causes refer to weather. Heavy rains, snowfall, fog and storms can make seeing the road ahead of you difficult and can even create unsafe road conditions. While these can’t be predicted and warned about as early as construction projects, the news channel will provide many daily and weekly weather updates. Avoid traveling in bad weather when you can and you should be able to avoid these jams.
Mechanical and human jams are caused by either the vehicle itself or the human driving it. Getting a flat tire, suddenly slowing down or any other human activity or vehicular malfunction can suddenly cause traffic congestion.
Driving defensively, paying attention to the road and performing regular car maintenance and checkups can prevent you from being the cause of these jams and may even let you escape them as they come to be.
If your car has a mechanical issue, safely pull over to a safe location, turn on your hazard lights and assess the situation before either performing maintenance or contacting roadside assistance. If you see someone experiencing car trouble, offer to help them if you’re able as this may resolve the issue quickly and end the jam early.
As mentioned above, drive defensively to avoid causing or getting into an accident. Stay aware of your surroundings and be prepared to take quick action if necessary. Don’t suddenly slow down or “brake check” the person behind you. If you do end up in an accident, make sure that everyone is okay, call the appropriate authorities and begin collecting information if you can.
Most importantly, stay calm. Whether you’re the cause of the congestion or the one thousandth victim, becoming upset will help no one. Stay calm and everything will sort itself out.
Ways to Avoid Traffic Jams
There are many ways to avoid traffic jams, such as route planning and area research. If you plan to be driving through an area that you are unfamiliar with then you need to do two things. First, research the local area.
Pay attention to newspapers and social media posts from local officials for news about highway closures for accidents or construction. Watch the local weather reports to understand what conditions you may be driving in and find local traffic reports if you can.
Once this information is gathered you can begin planning your route through or past this area. Avoid heavy traffic times such as lunch rush, especially in busy cities, and find roads that still take you to your destination while having less traffic than a highway might.
Make sure you and your vehicle are prepared for the journey as well by performing maintenance and keeping tools and an extra tire on hand just in case.
Traffic jams are annoying but they can often be avoided; planning, research and routine adjustments, such as leaving for work earlier, can all contribute to not only lessening the extent of traffic congestion but also keep you away from it. Remember, even if you do end up in a jam, stay calm—it will sort itself out in due time.
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