I had the misfortune of travelling back (by car) from work in Linlithgow today
got caught in traffic from Hermiston Gait.
solid traffic from there all the way up the bypass to the turn off I take at Gilmerton
took me over 25 minutes to get from Hermiston Gait to the Calder roundabout area!
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » General Edinburgh
Rush hour traffic,how do drivers deal with it?
(19 posts)-
Posted 11 years ago #
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"Rush hour traffic,how do drivers deal with it?"
Generalising here, but:
Very badly.
Posted 11 years ago # -
The traffic this evening was immense, too. Nose to tail all the way from about Stenhouse to the Calder Road to Longstone to the new Sainsbury's to Slateford.
Rush hour traffic,how do drivers deal with it?
They sit in their heated, air-conditioned boxes and listen to the radio presenter saying it's going to be a real winter and chaos likely. Certain cyclists sit in their unheated air-cooled carbon fibre tubes, losing body heat, and quietly wish they could filter past all the exhaust pipes.
Actually, I deployed my insulating half-canopy and was almost snug. T-shirt and shorts weather inside.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Listen to the radio or music, make a few phone calls, read a book, send some text messages.
I used to do it every day from Fife to Edinburgh and back again. Very probable that if my mate hadn't lost his parking space I'd still be doing it. It's not dreadful. It's an hour you factor into your day and try to time it to minimise getting caught up, if you have the flexibility to choose your working hours. If you've defined everything else out as a reasonable alternative then you assure yourself that this is the best of a bad lot and get on with it.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Last time I drove to work it took me an hour to get there and just over an hour to get back - a journey I've managed in 25 minutes on the way in and 35 on the way home under my own steam.
The agony of being stuck in traffic is far too great for me to do it unless unavoidable, but only because I have something much better to compare it to.
Is a kid with a full cricket set happier than one with a couple of sticks, *if* neither knows any different?
Posted 11 years ago # -
When I have to drive for work and the traffic is heavy, I see the cyclists passing and I am just plain jealous, even in the rain (and when I am tired out from cycling too much). I guess non-cycling motorists generally may not notice the cyclists or add one and one to get two, but some will jump to the conclusion that cycling is a good way to get around. Gradually we will gain critical mass ..... Well that's a hope anyway.
Posted 11 years ago # -
I am never happy when commuting. If I'm cycling, I hate fighting into the gale force winds and rain, wishing I could be snug in a bus. If I'm catching a bus, I wish I could be setting off in the car rather than hanging about at a bus stop. If I'm in a car, I hate waiting in huge queues of traffic and wish I could be whizzing past them on my bike.
(Actually, this isn't entirely true - on the bike commute I can take long detours up the hills on sunny evenings or enjoy crisp, bright winter mornings. Makes up for the days when it's nasty weather.)
Posted 11 years ago # -
Last night's traffic was exceptionally bad and I had the misfortune to be driving through it and adding to it.
A glance along the bypass showed that it looked grid locked (and I could see a blue flashing light - never a good sign), so went via the Gyle, Longstone, etc.
Had to keep telling myself I was part of the problem, but a pretty frustrating experience all the same.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Well last night my wife called from between jct2 and jct1 heading into town. 3 miles out doing 5mph... over an hour later she got home.
She dealt with it by listening to music, I had the kids so she didn't need to rush home to let her mum get away home all the way to Ayr, I had to skip football coaching but the eldest Tigermoth made it in to play. Even though she had had a rubbish day at work she was still calm. I think having something to enjoy listening to is important as it can at least make the boredom and sitting still less tedious.
However if you have something urgent on or I hadn't been home in time I can image stress levels rising rapidly as I would feel incredibly helpless and in turn frustrated (leads to anger then the dark side)
What I did say was maybe worth checking on the nadics.org traffic cameras site before setting off from EuroCentral (ha bloody ha) and getting stuck in it, or turn off at Livi and come back via the A71... All in all it would be interesting to hear what caused it...Posted 11 years ago # -
In the simplest of terms, the road network cannot handle the volume of vehicles and the slightest hiccup like a breakdown, rainfall or even low sun can bring it all down to a crawl.
With the exception of rainfall, those are the days when I love being on the bicycle :)Posted 11 years ago # -
Not well if I am an example.
Feeling a bit poorly this week so took the car today to give myself a rest.
Dear God Almighty - took me 50 minutes to do my 30 minute (by bike) commute home.
6.6 miles - so cant really be very cost effective either.
If I had to do that every day, on top of work stress I might be in a box sooner than I would like.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Morningside Road certainly couldn't handle the works at the top, not at 6pm tonight. Nose to tail all the way from the school to Shelter.
I can't claim I wasn't slowed down - having to filter like a fauxenger rather than my usual primary honk added a full 30 seconds to my usual ~1.45 Morningside Glory segment.
Posted 11 years ago # -
"Morningside Glory segment"
I think you mean Hermitage segment.
Posted 11 years ago # -
a70 pretty snarled east in the morning and west in the evenings for cars at the moment. Bikes don't really suffer so much
Posted 11 years ago # -
Two cow-orkers complained about traffic this morning. They live closer to the school than I do and on 30 mph roads the whole way. Neither seemed to think that cycling was an obvious alternative.
Posted 11 years ago # -
How can you complain about traffic if you are traffic even if you are a cow-orker?
Posted 11 years ago # -
And I get grief from cow-orkers for writing 'Rubber Side Down" on get well cards.
Apparently the traffic was super bad this morning. I took my normal time to get there.
Posted 11 years ago # -
I get either the bus in or bike at a ratio of 4 cycle days to 1 bus day. It works out around the same commute time usually. Its around 1 hour 15 minutes both on the bus or by bike. If I'm on the bus I usually spot someone I've met cycling along the A90 and wish I'd chosen to cycle that day. I should add I can't drive to work as there is no parking.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Nice, I always write Keep On Rockin In the Free World on cow-orkers cards. Once I went for
Garde sur Le Rockin dans Le monde libreStrong winds in the east making commute to work quick and commute home slow at the moment or a ci moment la
Posted 11 years ago #
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