This picture was taken out of the window of the car as I was coming down a hill on my way home from work. This, for those unfamiliar, is what traffic at about 5:30pm in the middle of the week can look like in Seattle.

So, what does one do when in such traffic?

Option 1: Get Mad

The option that some might be inclined to take is to simply get mad. This could be accentuated with various exclamations: “Oh my WORD this traffic is slow!” “What on EARTH is going ON?!” “CAN WE GO ANY SLOWER!??”

As you get mad at the situation, you can then extend that to the cars that are trying to change lanes in the middle of the craziness. Again, some worthy exclamations might be: “NOT in front of me! I’ve already been in line too long, buddy!” or “You’ve GOT to be KIDDING.”

Once in awhile, just for added measure, you could try smacking the dash of your car. This is best done while uttering some exclamation (see above for examples of things to exclaim).

By the time you get home from the drive, you’re thoroughly disgusted with the traffic, with Seattle’s traffic system, with the lack of more lanes of traffic to ease this situation, and with anything having to do with cars, people, or life in general. “I HATE Seattle!” would be the culminating exclamation for this choice.

Option 2: Chat on the Phone

Here’s a second option for drivers stuck in this traffic – get up to date on your friends’ lives by chatting on the phone! After all, it’s not like this will be hazardous to your driving, right? Nobody’s really moving that fast anyhow, and you’ll be plenty aware of what’s going on around you.

As an added bonus, if you see something cool happen, your friend could get a detailed description of the scene! It’s like being there live! Depending how far you need to go while the stop and go traffic is stopping and going, you could get a great half hour conversation in!

Of course, if you’re really getting into the conversation, you could find yourself not moving, or not paying attention, leading to one of two things: people honking at you to MOVE (perhaps by someone choosing Option 1 above) or people honking at you because you’ve now been involved in an accident in which you rear-ended the person in front of you when you didn’t realize how close they were.

But hey, your friend got a full description while it was happening!

Option 3: Contemplate Life, Learn a Little!

Here’s another option for these traffic times: enjoy some time to contemplate life and maybe even listen to some great music or a great book.

Let’s reflect on the situation: nothing I do will move the traffic any faster, or move me any faster. I’ve learned that changing lanes to get into the “faster lane” only seems to make it the “slower lane” and I end up in the wrong lane when I need to get off, making the people around me upset as I try to squeeze in the 6 feet of space that someone has left for me so I can try to get across to my exit. It’s better to just keep plodding along on my course for home, and take some time to listen to some great music.

I know it sounds cheesy, but the traffic time turned into “me” time. I haven’t yet actually started listening to books on DVD, though I’m planning on it. After all, my drive home is usually about 30 minutes anyhow, why not get something nice out of it? I’d rather spend 30 minutes winding down than spend 30 minutes fuming…or catching up with friends and getting into and/or causing accidents (this is of course not taking into account the fact that talking on a cell while driving is now a ticketable offense, secondary, yes, but I’d rather just not do it).

Option 4: Take the Bus

I’d be remiss if I didn’t post this fourth option of mass transit. My only problem with this is that it takes me longer, even in poor traffic, to take the bus than it would to simply drive. We live near an entry to the express lanes, which typically reduces the time I spend driving were I to take the regular interstate route, but it can still get slow at times. There are days I wish I took the bus just so I could catch up on some reading, but I also know I’d spend my time looking out the window and seeing what’s going on, rather than reading. So, car it is for me for now!