Traffic

Definition:

“Traffic” refers to the movement of vehicles, pedestrians, and animals along roads, streets, and pathways. It includes the flow of cars, trucks, bicycles, and other modes of transportation, as well as the regulations and infrastructure designed to manage and control this movement.

Etymology:

The word “traffic” comes from the Old Italian word “traffico,” which means “trade” or “commerce.” It later evolved to include the movement of vehicles and people.

Description:

Traffic patterns and behaviors can vary widely across different cultures:

• In Western cultures, traffic is often characterized by extensive car usage and well-developed road networks, with significant investments in traffic management systems.
• In Eastern cultures, in some regions, high population density leads to heavy traffic congestion, with a mix of cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and pedestrians.
• Developing countries may face challenges with traffic infrastructure and regulation, leading to chaotic traffic conditions.

Articles:

Symbolism:

Traffic carries go symbolism, as traffic is about obeying rules.

Traffic carries symbolism of herd mentality, as rules are in place to control the crowd.

Articles:

Herd Mentality:

Traffic and how people behave in traffic are prime examples of herd mentality. The way the world system is structured around the clock and calendar creates the issue of rush hour traffic every day. Even at times when people are not dependent on following the clock, they will still get in their cars and start driving in the same direction as everyone else, for no reason other than that’s where everyone else is going. When stuck in rush hour traffic, people tend to constantly engage in what’s called “stop-and-go driving,” meaning that as soon as the first car in line at a roundabout or an intersection moves, every single car behind it, no matter if it’s hundreds of cars, will move one car length forward before stopping again. Instead of just waiting a little bit, no matter where in the line you are, before moving forward, you could move several car lengths at a time. The problem with doing this is that it is such unusual behavior that it will freak out everyone behind you in line, causing them to honk their horns or try to drive past you, even if there’s oncoming traffic. When there are multiple lanes, drivers often choose lanes based on where other cars are. If one lane appears to be moving faster, many drivers will switch to that lane, often causing congestion and slowing down traffic flow in both lanes.

One thing people could do to ease rush hour traffic is to take the backroads, but this idea does not seem to occur to them. Instead, they’re all stuck in traffic on the same main road.

People following the actions of the driver in front of them is so common, and it gets exposed when drivers often enter intersections even when it’s clear that traffic on the other side is not moving, blocking cross traffic and worsening congestion. This happens because drivers are focused on staying close to the car in front and are afraid of losing their place in the queue. Also when lanes merge, drivers tend to follow the car in front closely, often not allowing enough space for other cars to merge smoothly, leading to congestion and sometimes accidents.

When there aren’t many cars on the road, people still exhibit herd mentality behavior. If you are driving on a road where there are minutes between seeing cars, you will often notice a line of cars closely following each other. This phenomenon does not occur because everyone behind the first car wants to pass it. It happens because people prefer to tailgate the car in front of them. The reason is that most people like to avoid thinking and simply follow the actions of the car ahead. Even if it were true that the car behind wants to pass because the driver thinks the car in front is too slow, tailgating for a long time on a winding road until an opportunity arises does not help them go any faster. The driver in front, if intelligent, is not going to speed up for the tailgater’s sake. In fact, the car in front will very likely drive slower out of fear that the aggressive driver behind might suddenly try to overtake them. There is zero communication between the cars. The driver in front has no idea if the person behind is reckless or not. The fact that the car behind is tailgating is a clear sign that the driver is unstable. The road is filled with such people.

People are generally rule followers and very scared to break any rules set by authority. However, drivers tend to match their speed to the flow of traffic, meaning if most cars are speeding, individual drivers are likely to speed as well to keep up. Sometimes you can find hundreds of cars together on the road speeding.

People are so uncreative that many, especially men, have nothing better to do than to be on the road for no good reason. There are motorcycle gangs and cyclist groups that gather in large numbers just to ride together, with no specific destination in mind. It becomes an even bigger problem when there are hundreds of car enthusiasts out on the road.

In parking lots, drivers tend to park next to other cars, which is most often as close to the entrance as possible, even if there are many empty spaces farther away. They follow the herd by looking for spaces close to other parked cars, assuming those are the best spots.

When walking among the crowd, you can witness a lot of herd mentality behavior if you’re just a little bit observant. People are such zombies when out walking in crowds that they need traffic lights; otherwise, they will just walk out into the road right in front of a truck and get killed. People do not look where they are going and crash into each other all the time when walking in a crowd, and they always seem surprised when it happens. People even crash into things that aren’t moving.

People are generally incapable of walking on their side of the road, which for most of the world is the right side of the road. This is part of traffic rules when driving, but people are not able to implement them when out walking. It’s not a law to stay on the right side when walking; it’s an unwritten rule that everyone should be aware of. The same goes for the escalator and conveyor belt. For some reason, the majority of people feel like they have to walk while on these. It’s not ideal that they feel this way, but we can’t stop people from doing it, so the unwritten rule is: get out of the fast lane, stay on the right side. Do not stand on the same step next to your friend and block the path for others.

There are also a lot of groups of people who all walk slowly next to each other when out walking among the crowd, making it basically impossible to get past them. When walking among the crowd, there are always a few groups of people who stop to talk to each other because they recognize someone, blocking the pathway for the rest. A whole bunch of people has it as their favorite hobby to go to the shopping mall to meet their friends, so they can stand in the middle of the hallway and block the road.