Shoulder Hogs and Telecommuting - The Odd Couple

Sorry, but I've got to grip about more bad driving habits exhibited by our selfish friends.

Road shoulders have now become extra driving lanes! Not!

Yes, people in the DC area are actually driving down the right AND left shoulders of the road when traffic isn't moving fast enough to suit them. It's unbelievable and very, very dangerous. My new driver daughter was almost hit the other day when she legally merged into the right turn lane and found another car was already there, driving down the shoulder to make the same right turn. If bad luck had prevailed instead of good, my daughter's car would have been hit from behind. In this state, that is automatically the car in front's fault. Ouch. Being just sixteen, she would have been in a bad position having had her license for only three months. Thanks goodness nothing bad happened. But, she was shook up.

Shoulder drivers are also seen on I-95 during rush hour on either end of the work day. I want to know why the local and state police aren't putting a quick stop to this problem before it gets further out-of-control. I, of course, am looking for a simple, simple way to discourage bad behavior. I think it should be okay to open your car door when you see another driver coming down the shoulder and it should automatically be their fault. I would have to seriously consider doing this in light of the harm such retaliation would do to the drivers of both cars. This is probably not a good idea - but what then?

Traffic in this area is bad, being only second to LA in gridlock. But, what makes people think they can completely ignore simple, simple driving rules like shoulders are not driving lanes?

I guess the real answer is to telecommute (a.k.a. working from home.) It's an old idea that's taking much too long to be realized. It's not a technological issue, but rather the lack of trust between supervisors and workers that is keeping telecommuting from being implemented widely across the area (if not the country). Telecommuting would save gas, reduce carbon emissions, and would greatly reduce the number of cars on the roads. It would save wear-and-tear on cars, on roads, and on other components of the transportation infrastructure. Telecommuting would also help truckers and others who can't work from home by removing traffic and other obstacles that create delays and waste gas. This could result in lower food costs, as well as price reductions in other goods transported over our highways.

Telecommuting is today's simple, simple solution to a lot of major problems.

(And, you can work in your pj's! Yea!)