"Congestion is unquestionably bad for us. It causes stress and negatively affects mental well-being. By adding to travel time, congestion increases exposure to potential injuries and fatalities as well as air pollutants for drivers and passengers. The simple act of sitting in a car is not good for one's health. Compounding these problems, time stuck in traffic is time that one could otherwise spend in activities healthy for mind and body."
"Because a driver stuck in traffic cannot go as fast as they think they should be able to, a twenty-minute trip with traffic feels worse than a twenty-minute trip without traffic. The inability to move means that drivers have lost not just time but autonomy, their ability to act independently of external forces. Being trapped in a traffic jam might trigger feelings akin to claustrophobia. All these effects are possibly greater when one does not anticipate the congestion."
"From a policy standpoint, we villainize congestion for its impacts on the economy. The annual Urban Mobility Report, published by the Texas Transportation Institute, estimates that "Americans lost an average of 63 hours sitting in traffic in 2024" and converts this into monetary impacts of $269 billion annually."
Congestion is widely treated as a central transportation problem because it increases stress and harms mental well-being. Longer travel times raise exposure to injuries, fatalities, and air pollutants for drivers and passengers. Time spent stuck in traffic also reduces time available for healthier activities. Psychological effects can intensify the experience when drivers cannot move at expected speeds, losing autonomy and feeling trapped, which can resemble claustrophobia. Congestion is also framed as an economic villain, with estimates of lost hours and large annual monetary impacts. These combined health, psychological, and economic effects help explain persistent policy obsession with congestion and motivate new initiatives aimed at reducing it.
#traffic-congestion #transportation-policy #public-health #psychology-of-commuting #economic-impacts
Read at Streetsblog USA
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