This is one of those topics that could easily turn into an angry rant, but it’s something I truly find amusing and I want to have some fun with it so I’ll try to keep my commentary on the light side and I hope you will agree. This is not about photography, so bear with me.

Every morning on my drive to work, between dropping Kathy off at the bus stop and arriving at my office I pass 12 intersections with traffic lights (careful to not say that I go through 12 traffic lights!). The pattern of the lights is pretty predictable, and you sort of know which ones are going to be red when you get to them and which ones might stay green depending on traffic, etc. And the amount of traffic is pretty consistent unless there’s an accident on one of the freeways. While it is a 4-lane road it’s not like the interstate where there is a “slow lane” and a “passing lane.” Both lanes move along at about the same speed. I’ve learned in my nearly 2 years of making this commute that it takes just about the same amount of time every day. When school is in session it takes 15-20 minutes, and when school is out it can take 12-15 minutes. Not a bad drive either way, all things considered.

For the most part a group of cars moves from one light to the next. Some people turn off, some cars get through the next light while others don’t, and some people enter from side streets. But for the most part you just go, and you just get where you are going.

While I’m driving I pay attention to what other cars are doing around me. I often observe behaviors and “project” an imaginary scenario on people based on how they drive. Most drivers are content to just drive, while others drive like they are on a personal mission to get to work faster than everyone else. Maybe there’s a prize, I don’t know.

Some common behaviors and general observations:

– Coming up to a traffic light, people from the right lane make last-minute moves to the left lane, and people from the left lane make last-minute moves to the right. I guess it’s like choosing the checkout line at the grocery store. It’s an amusing dance.

– If there’s a truck in the right lane, everyone moves to the left lane until there is no one behind the truck, then the left lane gets so long that people start switching to the right lane behind the truck, figuring that they will find a spot to jump back into the left lane in front of the cars in the left lane. In reality it makes very little difference because inevitably someone who moves to the left lane won’t go any faster than the truck.

– Coming up to an intersection in the left lane, someone will inevitably move to the right lane, pass the person in front of them, move back into the left lane then make a left turn. The reverse happens too – right lane to left lane.

– People seem to hate empty space. If a car in front of someone changes lanes or turns, leaving a large gap between them and the next car, they speed up to close the gap then slam on the brakes. They don’t seem to understand that they can’t go any faster than the people in front of them, but they evidently like to try.

– I saw a car with the license plate “WHATEVA.” I thought that meant the person was laid back and casual, but their driving was anything but. I guess it meant they didn’t care what anyone thought about their driving!

– At one of the intersections approaching work, I have the option to make a left turn, make a big loop that is about 3X as long as the regular way but comes at my office from the opposite direction. Since this avoids waiting through the final two lights, I always thought this “short cut” was faster even though it was longer. But one day I timed it – exactly the same.

– You can almost always tell who is looking at their phone by how much room they leave in front of them at red lights. Then they take a few more seconds to get moving when it turns green. Look out for the ones that don’t stop when the car starts moving – they have a hard time staying in their lane!

– People frequently make left turns from the right lane and right turns from the left lane. I figure they must be using GPS. Anyone who was actually paying attention would know their right from left.

I often wonder if I should have been some kind of behavioral psychologist. I find the study of humans fascinating. I always wonder what (if?) people are thinking about and what makes them tick. It’s a lot more fun than fiddling with the radio dial, checking e-mail or sending text messages. The observation of other people is great entertainment. One of these days I’ll figure out how to make a photography project out of it!

See, I did find a way to tie this in to photography!