Some Things About Traffic That May
Surprise You
Drivers seated higher think they are
driving more slowly than drivers
seated lower, and so tend to speed
more often.
Anywhere from 10% to more than
70% of people in urban traffic are
simply looking for parking.
More than 80% of traffic in a typical
city runs on 10% of the roads.
People who live on streets with more
traffic spend less time outside and
have fewer friends.
Saturday at 1 p.m. has heavier
traffic than weekday rush hours.
Highways can handle more cars at 55
mph than 80 mph.
When roads are closed for
construction, traffic on other nearby
roads often decreases rather than
increases.
SUVs can reduce the capacity of
signalized intersections by up to
20%.
It takes longer for people who circle
looking for the “best” parking spot in
lots to get to their destination than
those who pick the first spot they
see.
People are willing to spend longer
walking to and from a parking spot
in parking lots than on city streets.
A driver driving at 30 mph sees an
average of 1320 pieces of information
every minute.
The top 10 most dangerous cities for
pedestrians in the U.S. are all below
the Mason-Dixon line. Five are in
Florida.
After thirty seconds of waiting, most
people will begin to cross against
the light. People are more likely to
jaywalk when well-dressed people do
it first.
Studies have shown driving
aggressively, which raises crash risk
and increases fuel consumption,
saves just a minute on a 27-mile
trip.
350 people die every year entering
the freeway the wrong way; at least
50 are killed by cars in driveways.
One in five urban crashes is related
to searching for parking.
New cars crash at a higher rate than
older cars.
Most crashes happen on sunny,
clear, dry days.
More New Yorkers are killed legally
crossing in crosswalks than
jaywalking.
Drivers drive less closely to
oncoming cars on roads without
center-line markings.
The fatality risk in the backseat of a
car is 26% lower than in the front.
Parents on the “school run” increase
local traffic by a third. Only about
15% of U.S. schoolchildren walk to
school.
If everyone waits to merge at the
point where a highway loses a lane,
rather than earlier, traffic flows
better.
U.S. statistics show that half of all
fatalities happen at impact speeds
of less than 35 mph.
Men honk more than women, and
men and women honk more at
women than at men. Drivers in
convertibles with the tops down are
less likely to honk than those with
the top up. Drivers honk faster at
cars whose drivers are on cell
phones. And drivers are more likely
to honk at people from another state
or country than their own. Drivers
honk less on weekends.
The average driver looks away from
the road for .06 seconds every 3.4
seconds; drivers search for
something in the car 10.8 times per
hour.
Pedestrians think drivers can see
them up to twice as far away as they
actually can.
The most commonly dropped objects
on Los Angeles freeways are ladders.
The more Stop signs a road has, the
more likely drivers are to violate
them.
In the U.S., fuel taxes would have to
be raised from 20 to 70 cents a
gallon for drivers to fully pay for the
cost of roads (unlike in Europe,
where drivers pay more than roads
cost).
Car drivers drive closer to helmeted
cyclists (and farther from cyclists
who who appear to be women)
