traffic in town

“how to deal with traffic on a daily basis.“

Acceptance

“and is there any one to blame (builders)?“

Government, if there was more lanes there would be less traffic, if there was less crime more people would take the subway

Whats “in-town”? Many of us discovered an extra 5-10 hrs/week of time during Covid shutdowns not commuting and working from home. Even a day or two weekly of commuting back to the office now seems like an imposition. Good news is that most clients discovered they didn’t need to pay obscene hourly billing rates and airfares to have us fly to their locations for in-person meetings and could get by in most cases with a video meeting. Not having to navigate the airports and flights for same-day or overnight trips is even better than avoiding the drive back and forth to the office.

Hashem sent this traffic to make you better! Slow down, learn Mishna by heart, listen to a tape, talk to the kids in your car, call your mother, let a couple of people in front of you, drink coffee slowly, review LSAT, meditate, solve Fermat theorem. All provided you can do it safely, of course. I notice that when I am doing something productive, I am a safer and better driver as I am not in a hurry to get somewhere, I am OK to let others go before me – I would even break on yellow (not a minhag in my area) just to finish the sugya!

Always_Ask_Questions,

“Slow down, learn Mishna by heart, listen to a tape, talk to the kids in your car, call your mother, let a couple of people in front of you, drink coffee slowly…”

All great suggestions that can help reclaim commuting time as a productive part of life. I just have one thing to add – my stress behind the wheel is connected to lateness, and if I’m sitting in traffic and getting late for something, no thoughts, tapes, or conversations will alleviate my stress or turn back the clock. So to me, the most important way to cope with traffic is to accept its existence and account for it in my planning. My wife’s rule of thumb for urban driving is to double the time. If the mapping software estimates a drive will take 15 minutes, plan for it lasting 30. A 30 minute drive will actually take an hour, etc. And don’t forget to include extra time for parking and walking to the destination (extra 5 minutes if there’s a parking lot, extra 15 minutes if you have to park on a street, and even more extra time if you’re bringing kids). On many an occasion you’ll “hurry up and wait” as they say in the military, but then you can implement AAQ’s great suggestions with no stress. And if something comes up on the way, like spilling coffee on your shirt, you’ll likely have more time to deal with it without becoming truly late.

“And if something comes up on the way, like spilling coffee on your shirt”

Please don’t drink and drive.

If you don’t like the traffic in a big city, leave. There is life elsewhere.

P.S. I assume the original poster is not serving a sentence under which he is confined to New York City as a form of punishment (if he is, he has my sympathies).

Here is a really tough case I encountered lately in a long commute that is really difficult from the point of view of middos, your advice is appreciated:

two lanes narrow into one into a turn to another highway. 90% of cars organize into one lane long before the turn and move slowly for 5-15 minutes. 10% of cars speed by and then merge in right before the turn. Of course, more than 10% ends up merging in, significantly delaying the rest.

What are the options?
1) Ignore them and stay in the slow lane, observing this injustice and cheated of time, getting agitated and higher blood pressure
2) Accept suffering as punishment for other avonos
3) count how many Jews fly by
4) spend time in traffic to complain about it in CR
5) Get into fast lane and cheat others. Maybe use a Sombrero instead of a black hat to pretend to avoid hillul Hashem
6) block slowly in the fast lane, showing them how to behave and praying that those drivers are not armed
7) drive a different route with extra 10 minutes to avoid seeing this ugliness

which one would you choose or any better suggestions?

Syag, I am only complaining about my lack of middos and asking for an advice. I did not say this was in Monsey!

“Of course, more than 10% ends up merging in, significantly delaying the rest.”

This is incorrect.
The way you describe is very inefficent and causes traffic.
bot h lanes should be utilized until the end then merge in an alternating fashion

This has been studied over and over
See for example “EVALUATION OF THE LATE MERGE WORK ZONE TRAFFIC CONTROL STRATEGY ”

or “Dynamic Late Merge Control Concept for Work Zones on Rural Freeways”

so to answer your question

“which one would you choose or any better suggestions?”
There is a clear better suggestion. stay in your lane and merge at the last minute better for you, AND better for society. The rare win win.

Syag, all it was in my suggestion that if someone chooses to cut into the traffic (and I was tempted) that one will probably think about not looking Jewish. Someone will not. I thought of a black hat as a visible sign of a driver. If someone says a sticker “darchei Torah noam”, they might think of taking that down too. On that note, yes, I was a couple of times embarrassed when I looked at a driver who cut me off, and he had the hat on. Bu this would be, as you say, unfair – I am sure I was 1000 times cut off by someone else and did not pay attention. I guess the question for the kahal here would be – when you know that people see you as Jewish, does it affect your behavior in some way? Would you not drive in front of someone, or grab something because of that? I am sure there are people who will behave properly anonymously, and there are those who do not anyway, being so used to their levush and not thinking how the world sees them.