Issue #961

by Amanda Robinson, General Manager of Lightfoot

Traffic has a hold over me. I think about it all the time. In fact, I obsess over it.

In itself the word “traffic” isn’t a bad thing. It’s just a neutral collective noun, a group of vehicles moving places. But we have given the word a nasty undertone. It means congestion, a jam, a bottleneck, a gridlock. It means lots of vehicles making life harder than it has to be.

Given its nature – one vehicle behind another, sitting on the same stretch of road – we should be able to talk about traffic numerically. But instead we use qualifiers. Traffic can be bad, ugly, light, heavy, frustrating, infuriating, ridiculous. If it’s behaving well, I treat it like a child, “traffic was good today” or “not bad”.

When I’m sitting in it, I think about it more. Extra time to ruminate on the best and worst of the world. Bumper to bumper, inching along, sometimes I wave others into the queue, other times, I territorially edge forward, resentfully guarding the gap so no one can slip in. I question myself. Why didn’t I leave 15 minutes earlier? Why didn’t I take the bus? Or my bike? Would walking be quicker? Why is that jerk trying to cut in front of me in their monster truck (said from the driver’s seat of my own monster truck)?

I occasionally have rare insight into the issue. I look around my mostly empty car and I recognise the most obvious thing of all. I’m the traffic. I’m sitting in the middle of a big fat problem of my own making, still refusing to take responsibility for it.

Responsibility. It’s an interesting word and I spend a lot of time feeling bound to the duty of dealing with stuff. OK, so that’s being an adult… maybe I’m just trying to avoid blaming myself for being the issue. Yes, being the traffic.

Instead of bleating ‘why me?’, feeling helpless and shouting at no one in my car, I can embrace the challenge of traffic as a delightful reminder to take responsibility — not just for my commute, but for the cosmic dance of vehicles I find myself in.

I have a choice. We all have a choice in how we deal with this very predictable beast we’ve created. Let’s share a ride, and turn this daily frustration into an opportunity to connect. Consider joining Qtown Carpool today and together, let’s lighten the load on the road.

Find the group at www.facebook.com/groups/qtowncarpool or visit lightfoot.org.nz to find out more about Lightfoot, a charity dedicated to making people feel good about using shared and active travel.