I'm helping my mum with the green beans.
At the top, I put a runner bean into the grinder.
I'm turning it and at the back the runner bean is falling into pieces into the pan.
I think that could be done more efficiently. I put three green beans in the machine together. The beans are neatly ground. With eight beans at once, the whole lot jams up.
If too many cars are driving on the road at the same time, it also gets congested. Many people find traffic jams to be the biggest mobility problem of our time.
But is that really the case?
Does the traffic jam problem exist because it costs so much?
The economic damage is approximately €4 billion per year. This is according to the Knowledge Institute for Mobility Policy. How do they calculate that? Ten euros per hour for everyone stuck in traffic. Of course, there are high-flyers stuck in traffic, but also people who don't cost anything.
Incidentally, the €4 billion is much less damage than what accidents cost. Those are €17 billion per year. And also less than the environmental damage from traffic jams. That is €11 billion (KiM, 2019). If you remove all the volunteers from the traffic jam, the damage is only €1 billion. That is for the stationary lorries, which of course are not in the traffic jam for their own enjoyment.
Suppose the government were to eliminate all car accidents. Then we would save €1 billion. But making all roads so safe that no accidents happen would yield €17 billion. In that case, I know what I would choose.
So the costs aren't the problem.
What is the traffic jam problem then?
Red brake lights flash on.
The car next to it is putting its hazard lights on.
File.
Shit, home later than you thought.
Just like Max Verstappen, you can try to get ahead. Overtaking on the left and right, occasionally using the hard shoulder. You might get home a bit sooner than those daft sheep who just keep standing still.
Or getting utterly fed up with the nutters pretending to be Max Verstappen. Constantly changing lanes, cutting others off. What idiots.
So you can choose: Annoy yourself. Or annoy others.
You could also think: ‘Oh, in that case, I don't have to mow the lawn when I get home.’ What's better than having nothing to do? Okay, you can't go anywhere, but perhaps that's the beauty of a traffic jam. No one's bothering you, it's time for yourself.
So: no longer experiencing the traffic jam as a problem. Then the traffic jam isn't solved, but the traffic jam problem is.
Will the traffic jam problem still exist in the future?
Mercedes has received German approval for their system that allows driving without hands on the steering wheel. Okay, not yet at 130 on the left-hand lane. But it's a start. It concerns a system that can drive completely autonomously up to 60 km/h. According to Mercedes, this is useful in heavy traffic, for example. The car then takes over the driving completely so you can focus on things you find more important than driving.
Then sitting in traffic jams will be perfectly fine. You won't have to get annoyed and you can do something else in the meantime.
But I'm not a zen driver at all.
Imagine there are no more traffic jams. Then you'd speed in a straight line to work, and eight hours later, back again. That might seem great, but of course, it isn't at all. Always on time for work, always on time home. Never any time for yourself. No time to pick your nose, flirt with the person in the car next to you, or listen to your own music.
I don't have a Mercedes that can drive itself at all.
That's not necessary at all. Go to our website. Book a Hyundai Kona there. This car has adaptive cruise control. In traffic jams, it can brake and accelerate by itself.
Listen to the radio and find a nice traffic jam. Preferably one in Germany, that's not too far.
And when you get cut up in traffic? Then you think: oh well, oddball.
