Jeff_Michael's Blog

Just walked out of our studio where we do the Real Time Traffic report for myfoxla.com and I have to start by giving today’s Darwin Award to one particular driver.

Will the Prius owner who RAN OUT OF GAS please take a bow! Yeah, I get frustrated with Suburban owners who can’t park their 4-wheel pachyderm or the guy who spends $100,000 on a Porsche and burns out the clutch learning how to look cool… BUT… running out of gas in the I’m greener than you are, Left Coast Limo?? C’mon, even Larry David wouldn’t go for a laugh by doing that. Ok, maybe he would but HE GETS PAID MILLIONS to look that hapless!

Anyway, I could air more of my freeway pet peeves but I thought I’d throw out a challenge instead. I read some of the LA Times piece recently on traffic tie-ups. Maybe you saw the diagram of how traffic waves ebb and flow.  Simply put, most of the bumper to bumper line up that reduces us to candidates for anger management class is caused by drivers accelerating to fill a space between cars. “Finally, I can move!!” The obvious suggestion by traffic engineers is, don’t do that—it only creates a longer line of  cars slamming on the brakes.

For the past few days, I’ve been consciously trying to keep more space between my car and the one in front of me and, guess what, the Ph.D’s are right. Sure, there are over-caffeinated drivers who zoom into the extra space but you know, it doesn’t really slow you up that much. The worse the traffic, the more important it is to increase your space. I’ve found it saves on my brake pads, my nerves, my gas mileage and my right hip flexor that’s been driving me crazy lately. But that’s another blog.

I dare you. Calm down, space out (not mentally), and do the rest of us a favor by being part of the solution!  Did I mention better gas mileage?

JM