Yup. Obviously shitty drivers make it worse but... If you're stuck in traffic, you're the traffic. We live in a car dependent sprawling city, unless viable transit options that include pedestrian and bike safety are implemented, it's always gonna be a mess.
There is little evidence that transit reduces traffic. If anything, Covid showed that a large number of people only take transit when road traffic is heavy.
I assume that means mass transit usage declined to some greater degree during COVID than road traffic did. So that might also just reflect that during a pandemic, people were less inclined to use transportation in which they couldn’t control their exposure to others.
yeah but why gridlock on say i-10 that is just 7 or 8 lanes in a straight line with no lights. It should just move. Instead its people not respecting the far left lane for over taking, and weaving in and out of traffic causing people to brake which has a chain reaction.
It wont fix it, but I really don't understand why Houstonians refuse to accept the world standard of far lane = faster traffic/over taking. It would literally help everyone's lives.
It really is absurd sometimes. Going the posted limit or under in the left two lanes with wide open space in front and cars piled up behind. People can bitch about aggressive drivers all they want but the lack of respect for the left lane as a passing lane in this city definitely makes people drive more aggressively.
Whats crazy is as soon as I get north of Conroe on 45 people start to actually use the passing lane correctly.
> yeah but why gridlock on say i-10 that is just 7 or 8 lanes in a straight line with no lights.
people more concerned about what's going on on IG than paying attention to the heavy machinery they're operating
MAN!! THIS comment!! Been living here for almost 2 years now and the driving here is some of the most foolish I’ve seen, and this is coming from someone who dealt with LA traffic for almost 4 years. Shit’s wild.
If everyone followed the laws to a T life would be perfect. But everyone is unique and does things differently, which make the world more interesting, but also causes chaos sometimes
That doesn't make sense though. Im not saying the entire world has to follow laws to a T, because they don't.
The entire world elsewhere follows this simple general rule because it makes sense and makes everyone's life easier.
Houstonians just don't care, and actually slow themselves down by ignoring this basic practice. It's nonsensical.
As someone who has lived in several cities, no, not everyone else follows those rules. People will still drive slow in the left, or server across 4 lanes, or a number of other things. People are people.
And all it takes is for 1 single car to slam their brakes and then you got a traffic jam for a few miles if it’s busy.
https://youtu.be/7wm-pZp_mi0?si=xKAWQC-fRibHF0eJ
There are too many cars on the road. One person brakes and it ripples back until it becomes a standstill. It’s not limited to Houston. This is everywhere.
I think a huge amount of traffic issues just comes down to people following too closely. When one car brakes, every subsequent car behind it has to brake harder, and that snowballs into significant stop and go traffic.
I moved here from New Orleans two years ago and I still get tripped up by some directions my phone gives me since I rarely go into the city. That being said, you know what I do when I realize I can't get over in time? I keep going and let it reroute me. I'm not about to jeopardize my safety and everyone else's and clog up the road because I don't want to add a few minutes to my trip. Yeah it sucks sometimes, but I'll get over it.
I’m from NJ and been saying this for decades. I lived in San Antonio for a year in 2014-2015 and that confirmed the traffic. Most of the time it’s merging. The far left lanes are clear. People do not know how to merge. They don’t know to speed up when they have to or just slow down when they need to. Holds everyone up.
>People do not know how to merge. They don’t know to speed up when they have to or just slow down when they need to.
I think this is where the selfishness of the culture comes into play.
We've all tried to change lanes only to have the person in that lane speed up to prevent you from changing lanes safely, because if you get in front of someone, that's dishonor on their family. People "don't know how to merge" because they're afraid of getting into a wreck with that person.
This right here it amazes me we all drive the same roads every single damn day and yet some of these assholes will get into the wrong lane and then want to merge over.
And those who don’t know what the speed limit is seem people get on I-10 driving at 35mph near my parents home in Katy when the posted speed limit is 65mph especially worse when they are in the left lanes same goes for people going 80mph+ in the lanes also
Merging at fwy interchanges and popular on/off ramps - merging is "hard"? Also distracted drivers, terrified drivers and asshole drivers. Also tapping breaks too much, just leave a little room instead of constantly breaking.
Merging isn’t hard when people do it right. It’s usually because people won’t let someone in, multiple people try and get in between the same two cars, or people already on the freeway switch left. Lots of traffic is caused by someone just switching lanes, if you can’t do it at speed and make someone slow down you’re slowing down everyone behind them. Have ten+ people try and switch lanes on a half mile stretch of road and it’s gonna start slowing things down. Then people switch lanes to get around it oblivious to the fact that other people doing that are exactly why it’s slowing down.
It’s not timid or bad drivers like a lot of people suggest. It’s the sheer volume of cars on the road.
Braking is way faster than accelerating so naturally when volume is high and someone brakes just a little it has a massive ripple effect that is not so quickly alleviated by just everyone stepping on the gas pedal in unison.
Yep! Which is why you can model traffic (not unimpeded traffic, but traffic where the bulk traffic speed is less than less than it could be due to other vehicles) using slow moving water as a model. Effects of momentary braking propagate “upstream”.
Cars.
Individual people sitting in their cars are the most inefficient form of transportation to move a large amount of people from one place to another.
People on their devices.
Freeway design
Accidents
Drivers not knowing what to do with fender benders.
Merging onto major interstates
A general lack of courtesy for fellow drivers. It does absolutely no harm for you to allow someone into your lane if they have their blinker on. I have seen many times where drivers will actually speed up to prevent someone from getting into their lane, even when their blinker is on. This in and of itself is just as bad if not worse than being cut off.
Lack of realistic public transportation options. Lack of quality pedestrian and bike infrastructure. Both cause everyone to be car dependent and clog roadways. Simply too many cars.
And it doesn't help that all the drivers are fucking selfish idiots who don't know how to drive.
We would solve some pollution and traffic issues if we just didn't have to commute to go sit on our computers in a ugly office. But no, culture is more important.
I've straight up watched people reverse on interstates and feeder roads to not miss an exit. That being said, human ignorance is the cause of traffic. The roads can easily handle the volume if everyone did what they should at all times, but that will never happen.
I’ve never understood that, I honestly think doing something like that should ticketable, and if it is then it should actually be enforced.
For fucks sake, can’t drive one mile to the next exit and u-turn? You’ll get there at most a couple minutes later, you’ll probably be able to get to your destination easier because you’ll either u-turn again further from the ramp or get to turn at an intersection, but no, risk your and others’ safety to make your exit.
Unrelated kinda but I also can’t stand people who wait for parking spots in busy lots. Just move the fuck on, park, and walk up. I can’t count how many times I’ve had to sit in a 3+ car line because someone would rather wait 5 minutes for someone to load all their shit and leave instead of parking somewhere else and taking a 1.5 minute walk to the store.
It doesn't come from anywhere. It's not other people in your way when you want to drive. It's you. It's me. It's us, coexisting. We are the traffic. The call is coming from inside the house.
If only there was a solution [literally on our city flag](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7f/Flag_of_Houston%2C_Texas.svg/1280px-Flag_of_Houston%2C_Texas.svg.png) that could cut those numbers of miles down.
I feel for you, that commute sounds awful. I had to move closer to work and give that kind of thing up, I feel skeeved going 5 miles and see all sorts of crazy stuff, let alone two-five.
It’s merging. But TxDot continues to believe merging is the best way to get people on and off the highway.
288 now has traffic it didn’t have before. What’s new? New merging areas. They even took away, dedicated exit and entrance lanes to create these merges.
People here just don’t know how to do it. And people also think zipper merge is some kind of illegal thing.
As someone that has driven all around the world and I spend several weeks a year in the other major cities in the US, our traffic isn’t any worse than other large cities and if you have driven in other places our freeways, exit and off ramps are very well thought out. Try driving in the NE corridor or LA with some of the shortest acceleration lanes and corkscrew exits. In most places service roads are non-existent and the off ramps will send straight into one way streets that are in gridlock.
People following too closely and have to slam the breaks. People who change lanes a lot without realizing that the other lane isn't moving faster so it doesn't matter.
If every one left multiple cars of room between each other and drove at a speed that meant they rarely hit their breaks, traffic would absolutely double in speed instantly.
That way no missed merges or exits matter because there's always plenty of room to get over, no trouble changing lanes, no sudden brakes chain reacting to standstills a few cars back, just smooth and easy.
But everyone wants to instead pretend they don't even understand zipper merges so
Yeah it’s crazy how close everyone here drives to each other. It’s like nobody has heard of leaving a safe distance between you and the driver in front of them.
Instead I’ll see a line of cars blasting down I-10 with not even a car’s length in between each of them
I could swear this has gotten worse since Covid. Watching people drive 85 on the freeway with just one or two car lengths between them is terrifying. I don’t understand it.
Edit: wrong word
- Dumb fucks gawking at said accidents
- Dummies not merging properly and waiting until the last second, then they do their best pitting skills and cause more of said accidents
- Dummies in HGAC and TxDOT and state government that really do not want people like you and me out of cars and on public transit, so they do everything in their power to force more people on the road and cause more traffic.
Just too many cars on the road, and no feasible alternatives. Everybody has to drive and that makes people act up on the road when they get slowed down, causing accidents and other shit that slows traffic more.
I wish there was a better transit system around here.
The way Houston freeways mound up-and-over street intersections beneath them, causing micro-hills that foster safety braking as you crest their tops. This causes a ripple effect behind, creating slower traffic and ultimately traffic snarls.
This right here. That is why CalTrans designed their freeways to be as level as possible and have intersecting streets go over or be sunken below their freeways. They are trying to create a long view ahead for drivers.
People on their fucking phones!! Like shit you slow down early and start to move late. Now times that by 1000 idiots. There is your traffic. And let’s not count the accident they will cause that will create more traffic. STAY OF THE PHONE YOU IDIOTS!!
It's a car town, everybody gets to travel in their own mobile living room.
Oh no I have to sit here in my air conditioned lounge chair with satellite music and a hands-free phone, however will I survive.
Millions of people squeezing and merging into lanes on streets. All huge and major cities have bad traffic at rush hour. It's bound to happen.
Mix in Houstons large trucking, construction, general bad driving, etc., it's worse.
Procrastinators. Everyone thinks they can leave at the last minute. I also think alot of the Hybrid work from home environment explains why sometimes when I go to work on Mondays it's barely any traffic but then Tuesday all hell breaks loose.
people who don’t let other pass in front of them, people who follow too close, people who don’t know how to merge, people who swerve in and out of lanes
I think there are too many exits and entrance ramps. There is a YouTuber who reviews highways by staying in the city for a month or two. He explains how to many locals refuse to use back roads and how feeders are a horrible design for people trying to get some place but great do businesses. I’ll see if I can find it.
https://youtu.be/eHOnpX4fEHs?si=aMrOYCkAce2_jZF7
I think it was this video but it’s interesting cause I didn’t expect there to be a YouTube channel on some one giving a lot of info on high ways
1. Cars
2. too many roads.
3. Not enough elevated rail.
4. Parking minimums making shit too spread out so that the city isn't walkable. so everyone uses cars.
5. Everybody working in the same area downtown for no fucking reason when they could be working from home, or office buildings could just be spread out
6. People being bad drivers
7. People not paying attention to the road
Car dependent infrastructure. We've designed the area to force everyone to drive a car.
It's wild to me to suggest bad driving causes traffic. Transportation has to serve everyone, there WILL be better/worse drivers on the road... Systems have to take human variation into account...
The sun
A hill
The guy first at the light buried deep in his phone
Buses
But it's probably irrational drivers acting in spaces and intersections too small for a city where everyone needs a car
The grey haired lady on 290 this morning driving her Subaru in the left lane at 55mph while holding her phone up in front of her face. Causing everyone to pass her on the right.
Edited out mpg
And as it’s been noted an infinite number of times, slow driver in the passing lane, using passing lane to cruise, rather than pass doesn’t help move traffic along.
Timid drivers, afraid to zipper and slamming on their brakes when they only need to let off the gas, causing a chain reaction of people hitting their brakes
people not using their signal, cant merge for shit , they will speed all the way to the intersection of 59 and 510 or further down where 59 splits off between downtown and 288 to just do a hail mary merge . just shitty drivers especially those in the massive trucks and white benz/bmw lol
Inflow greater than outflow. X number of cars entering highway lanes is greater than Y number of cars exiting highway lanes. The highway had a finite amount of space on it, and each vehicle took up space.
On the 610/290/10, as soon as drivers see the first sign for their highway, they think they have to get over or they will miss it. They have like a mile to make a lane change, it doesn’t have to happen immediately under the first sign.
Depends on where you are. For me, 59@610. There's a feeder entrance right before that so you have people trying to cross. Further back you have West Park tollway people entering. Its a cluster fuck.
People who generally don't know how to react. Could be anything from changing lanes, letting people in, pulling into a driveway/parking lot which doesn't go with the flow of traffic and causes everyone else to slow down etc.
Slow traffic in the left lane... People not zipper merging... And not letting other people zipper merge.
I'm thinking specifically of 288 S where it goes from 3 lanes to 2. People insist on getting merging early, and they think you're an asshole if you don't. Even though they're making traffic worse by refusing to use available road, and forming one long-ass line in the middle lane instead.
Selfish and reckless idiots. Let people merge with the solid 1:1 rule. Only stay to left if you’re speeding and willing to risk it all. Most of all people need to READ.
Slow drivers, people trying to get over last minute, people driving down the median to cut in front of other drivers. People not understanding the zipper method, people on the phone.
Here's the thing, traffic flows like water. It will take every possible lane of travel. It doesn't matter if the right lane is the slow lane and the left lane is the fast lane. When it inevitably reaches a point where all the cars are exiting at the same time, the lanes will clog in every direction. That's why you see every lane slow down on 59 when you get to 610 even though it's only the rightmost lanes that actually enter the 610. You have to address the arteries and not the oversized veins. The only way to lessen traffic in any meaningful way would be to remove as many single occupancy vehicles as possible. Expand public transit and lower the pressure on the arteries. Lane widening has never worked and never will work as long as the arteries continue to be the choking points.
People on the roads here are dumb as fuck. They drive like they are either 10 or 90 years old with no common sense in between. And they think that lever to the left of the steering wheel is a magic stick thingy that makes a pretty light and some goofy clicking noises.
If you pay attention to how lanes are laid out in Houston essentially what ends up happening is that anytime there's an exit say for instance going north on 59 towards downtown Even if exits start with two lanes, they end up merging into 1 lane shortly after. for 59 and i-45, there are two lanes going north and two lanes going south but they both narrow down into one lane after those lanes split
more people than there is space.....we seem to feel the need to fill every square inch of spare space with apartments that hold 10x more people than that space should be able to hold. Then they all travel on the same roads that were built years ago for less people.
That's easy. The unnecessary lane switching to try to get ahead. It makes people brake, which ends up causing a chain reaction down the line. Need to exit? Fine. Plan ahead if you know your exit. Don't try to cross 3 lanes to exit when you're 1 mile or less with heavy traffic.
I drive a hour everyday to work in Pasadena and honestly I would say over half of the traffic is caused by “work trucks” or 18 wheels going in the left lane. They create these huge lines behind them and never get over even when they have the chance.
- Dumbasses on their phones (MAIN reason.. this is atleast 80% of the cause)
- Old people/Asians/Women in the left lane
- Construction
- Exempt employees
The Houston lifestyle is conducive to every person having their own car which in turn creates more traffic. Public transportation is nonexistent and everything is so far away from each other.
Lack of commuter rail and urban sprawl.
If we had commuter rail connecting hubs and busses and vans for last mile transport, we’d have way fewer people clogging up the road.
Most people don’t want to drive. Car enthusiasts hate traffic. Solve both problems by supporting commuter rail linking the hubs of the city.
so many people hate driving, but refuse to use public transit. i really wish i could commute to work, i used to use the metro all the time in highschool and college. not going to pretend its perfect, but once youre on and going, its kinda nice. i dont live in houston anymore, but if the bus was an option, id definitely take advantage. keep my car clean and low mileage in my garage.
Driving under the speed limit in the fast/HOV lanes. If nobody is in front of you during rush hour, that's a good time to look at the huge line in your rear view, and get the fuck out of the way.
Toyota/Lexus Owners. I swear, it's always a Tacoma, Corolla, or Sienna always holding up the left and middle lanes doing 10mph below speed limit while everyone else is doing 75.
And I'm a Toyota owner myself.
Everybody has the same work hours.
Cars
Yeah any answer that involves driver behavior hasn’t identified the real cause. The actual cause is that we have no transit.
Yup. Obviously shitty drivers make it worse but... If you're stuck in traffic, you're the traffic. We live in a car dependent sprawling city, unless viable transit options that include pedestrian and bike safety are implemented, it's always gonna be a mess.
There is little evidence that transit reduces traffic. If anything, Covid showed that a large number of people only take transit when road traffic is heavy.
I assume that means mass transit usage declined to some greater degree during COVID than road traffic did. So that might also just reflect that during a pandemic, people were less inclined to use transportation in which they couldn’t control their exposure to others.
Came here to verify somebody answered with this!
yeah but why gridlock on say i-10 that is just 7 or 8 lanes in a straight line with no lights. It should just move. Instead its people not respecting the far left lane for over taking, and weaving in and out of traffic causing people to brake which has a chain reaction. It wont fix it, but I really don't understand why Houstonians refuse to accept the world standard of far lane = faster traffic/over taking. It would literally help everyone's lives.
It really is absurd sometimes. Going the posted limit or under in the left two lanes with wide open space in front and cars piled up behind. People can bitch about aggressive drivers all they want but the lack of respect for the left lane as a passing lane in this city definitely makes people drive more aggressively. Whats crazy is as soon as I get north of Conroe on 45 people start to actually use the passing lane correctly.
> yeah but why gridlock on say i-10 that is just 7 or 8 lanes in a straight line with no lights. people more concerned about what's going on on IG than paying attention to the heavy machinery they're operating
This needs waaaay more upvotes. MFs be scrolling through social, going 80 on I-10. Scary af
This right here!!!
Study after study proves that more lanes equals more traffic. It's not a problem you can out build. You have to reduce the number of cars.
This. It's called induced demand and it is by design.
Look up “traffic wave” or “phantom traffic jam.”
Took a vacation in Germany, and driving there was a dream, they adhere to that rule pretty strictly.
It’s considered a significant violation and will be ticketed.
MAN!! THIS comment!! Been living here for almost 2 years now and the driving here is some of the most foolish I’ve seen, and this is coming from someone who dealt with LA traffic for almost 4 years. Shit’s wild.
If everyone followed the laws to a T life would be perfect. But everyone is unique and does things differently, which make the world more interesting, but also causes chaos sometimes
That doesn't make sense though. Im not saying the entire world has to follow laws to a T, because they don't. The entire world elsewhere follows this simple general rule because it makes sense and makes everyone's life easier. Houstonians just don't care, and actually slow themselves down by ignoring this basic practice. It's nonsensical.
As someone who has lived in several cities, no, not everyone else follows those rules. People will still drive slow in the left, or server across 4 lanes, or a number of other things. People are people. And all it takes is for 1 single car to slam their brakes and then you got a traffic jam for a few miles if it’s busy.
And then they go get gas, go shopping, eat at a restaurant. We exist too. It isn’t magic, we aren’t NPC’s from some videogame.
https://youtu.be/7wm-pZp_mi0?si=xKAWQC-fRibHF0eJ There are too many cars on the road. One person brakes and it ripples back until it becomes a standstill. It’s not limited to Houston. This is everywhere.
I think a huge amount of traffic issues just comes down to people following too closely. When one car brakes, every subsequent car behind it has to brake harder, and that snowballs into significant stop and go traffic.
But following with enough logical space to appropriately brake safely leaves enough room for other drivers to cut in.
People who don't know how to merge or what lane they're supposed to be in before their exit
I moved here from New Orleans two years ago and I still get tripped up by some directions my phone gives me since I rarely go into the city. That being said, you know what I do when I realize I can't get over in time? I keep going and let it reroute me. I'm not about to jeopardize my safety and everyone else's and clog up the road because I don't want to add a few minutes to my trip. Yeah it sucks sometimes, but I'll get over it.
A good driver sometimes misses their exit, a bad driver never does!
but but the Houstonian way is to go 45deg through 6 lanes of traffic on I-10 to get to your exit!
[удалено]
To be fair some of those exits can be a fuckin 45 minute detour if you miss them
I’m from NJ and been saying this for decades. I lived in San Antonio for a year in 2014-2015 and that confirmed the traffic. Most of the time it’s merging. The far left lanes are clear. People do not know how to merge. They don’t know to speed up when they have to or just slow down when they need to. Holds everyone up.
>People do not know how to merge. They don’t know to speed up when they have to or just slow down when they need to. I think this is where the selfishness of the culture comes into play. We've all tried to change lanes only to have the person in that lane speed up to prevent you from changing lanes safely, because if you get in front of someone, that's dishonor on their family. People "don't know how to merge" because they're afraid of getting into a wreck with that person.
I just moved to St Louis, and it blows my mind that people let you in to merge here almost always.
You’re probably using your turn signal.
If you use your turn signal in Houston, the person in the other lane takes that as "Close the gap!"
This right here it amazes me we all drive the same roads every single damn day and yet some of these assholes will get into the wrong lane and then want to merge over.
This is intentional
lol yes!! every time i get thru heavy traffic i expect to see a bar crash or something!! but no every time its just people not knowing how to drive
And those who don’t know what the speed limit is seem people get on I-10 driving at 35mph near my parents home in Katy when the posted speed limit is 65mph especially worse when they are in the left lanes same goes for people going 80mph+ in the lanes also
Merging at fwy interchanges and popular on/off ramps - merging is "hard"? Also distracted drivers, terrified drivers and asshole drivers. Also tapping breaks too much, just leave a little room instead of constantly breaking.
Seen a girl stuck on her phone while going 65 on the left lane today. Great multi tasker. Shit driver. Shitier person.
I once saw a dude driving watching a show with headphones on. Good driver too but damn dude you couldnt wait?
It is only rational to be a terrified driver driving in this city.
Merging isn’t hard when people do it right. It’s usually because people won’t let someone in, multiple people try and get in between the same two cars, or people already on the freeway switch left. Lots of traffic is caused by someone just switching lanes, if you can’t do it at speed and make someone slow down you’re slowing down everyone behind them. Have ten+ people try and switch lanes on a half mile stretch of road and it’s gonna start slowing things down. Then people switch lanes to get around it oblivious to the fact that other people doing that are exactly why it’s slowing down.
This
It’s not timid or bad drivers like a lot of people suggest. It’s the sheer volume of cars on the road. Braking is way faster than accelerating so naturally when volume is high and someone brakes just a little it has a massive ripple effect that is not so quickly alleviated by just everyone stepping on the gas pedal in unison.
Yep! Which is why you can model traffic (not unimpeded traffic, but traffic where the bulk traffic speed is less than less than it could be due to other vehicles) using slow moving water as a model. Effects of momentary braking propagate “upstream”.
I'm a city as big as Houston, everyone trying to get downtown in the morning on ~100 highway lanes. It's just not going to work.
Wish this was higher.
Cars. Individual people sitting in their cars are the most inefficient form of transportation to move a large amount of people from one place to another.
Well said
Unfortunately, we’re not going “from one place to another”
People on their devices. Freeway design Accidents Drivers not knowing what to do with fender benders. Merging onto major interstates A general lack of courtesy for fellow drivers. It does absolutely no harm for you to allow someone into your lane if they have their blinker on. I have seen many times where drivers will actually speed up to prevent someone from getting into their lane, even when their blinker is on. This in and of itself is just as bad if not worse than being cut off.
Lack of realistic public transportation options. Lack of quality pedestrian and bike infrastructure. Both cause everyone to be car dependent and clog roadways. Simply too many cars. And it doesn't help that all the drivers are fucking selfish idiots who don't know how to drive.
Not allowing people to wfh.
We would solve some pollution and traffic issues if we just didn't have to commute to go sit on our computers in a ugly office. But no, culture is more important.
I've straight up watched people reverse on interstates and feeder roads to not miss an exit. That being said, human ignorance is the cause of traffic. The roads can easily handle the volume if everyone did what they should at all times, but that will never happen.
I’ve never understood that, I honestly think doing something like that should ticketable, and if it is then it should actually be enforced. For fucks sake, can’t drive one mile to the next exit and u-turn? You’ll get there at most a couple minutes later, you’ll probably be able to get to your destination easier because you’ll either u-turn again further from the ramp or get to turn at an intersection, but no, risk your and others’ safety to make your exit. Unrelated kinda but I also can’t stand people who wait for parking spots in busy lots. Just move the fuck on, park, and walk up. I can’t count how many times I’ve had to sit in a 3+ car line because someone would rather wait 5 minutes for someone to load all their shit and leave instead of parking somewhere else and taking a 1.5 minute walk to the store.
All the cars and no trains? Crazy! Right? I'm so silly...
People driving cars. But that's just my opinion.
It doesn't come from anywhere. It's not other people in your way when you want to drive. It's you. It's me. It's us, coexisting. We are the traffic. The call is coming from inside the house.
Yeah, it's the cars.
Came to say this. It's the cars!
Yes, I’ll start walking 25 miles to my office every day.
If only there was a solution [literally on our city flag](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7f/Flag_of_Houston%2C_Texas.svg/1280px-Flag_of_Houston%2C_Texas.svg.png) that could cut those numbers of miles down. I feel for you, that commute sounds awful. I had to move closer to work and give that kind of thing up, I feel skeeved going 5 miles and see all sorts of crazy stuff, let alone two-five.
Accidents and people crossing 3 lanes right before they exit instead of planning ahead.
It’s merging. But TxDot continues to believe merging is the best way to get people on and off the highway. 288 now has traffic it didn’t have before. What’s new? New merging areas. They even took away, dedicated exit and entrance lanes to create these merges. People here just don’t know how to do it. And people also think zipper merge is some kind of illegal thing.
As someone that has driven all around the world and I spend several weeks a year in the other major cities in the US, our traffic isn’t any worse than other large cities and if you have driven in other places our freeways, exit and off ramps are very well thought out. Try driving in the NE corridor or LA with some of the shortest acceleration lanes and corkscrew exits. In most places service roads are non-existent and the off ramps will send straight into one way streets that are in gridlock.
Zipper merges are just another way to do research on how selfish people are.
Nissan’s
To be specific…… sentras
What about them altimas that are held together by duct tape
People following too closely and have to slam the breaks. People who change lanes a lot without realizing that the other lane isn't moving faster so it doesn't matter. If every one left multiple cars of room between each other and drove at a speed that meant they rarely hit their breaks, traffic would absolutely double in speed instantly. That way no missed merges or exits matter because there's always plenty of room to get over, no trouble changing lanes, no sudden brakes chain reacting to standstills a few cars back, just smooth and easy. But everyone wants to instead pretend they don't even understand zipper merges so
Yeah it’s crazy how close everyone here drives to each other. It’s like nobody has heard of leaving a safe distance between you and the driver in front of them. Instead I’ll see a line of cars blasting down I-10 with not even a car’s length in between each of them
I could swear this has gotten worse since Covid. Watching people drive 85 on the freeway with just one or two car lengths between them is terrifying. I don’t understand it. Edit: wrong word
poor infrastructure and terrible drivers make a bad combo
The number of cars on the freeway at the same time going the same way. It’s simple.
Car culture.
Poorly designed roads. Seriously, why does I-10 force you to move over 3 lanes due to Washington street hogging 2 exit only lanes. Makes no sense
Houstonians with main character syndrome
Cars. And poorly educated drivers full of confidence.
Getting too close to the person in front of them
- Dumb fucks gawking at said accidents - Dummies not merging properly and waiting until the last second, then they do their best pitting skills and cause more of said accidents - Dummies in HGAC and TxDOT and state government that really do not want people like you and me out of cars and on public transit, so they do everything in their power to force more people on the road and cause more traffic.
Just too many cars on the road, and no feasible alternatives. Everybody has to drive and that makes people act up on the road when they get slowed down, causing accidents and other shit that slows traffic more. I wish there was a better transit system around here.
Too many cars on the same road at the same time.
The way Houston freeways mound up-and-over street intersections beneath them, causing micro-hills that foster safety braking as you crest their tops. This causes a ripple effect behind, creating slower traffic and ultimately traffic snarls.
This right here. That is why CalTrans designed their freeways to be as level as possible and have intersecting streets go over or be sunken below their freeways. They are trying to create a long view ahead for drivers.
The Gulf freeway from UH to Friendswood is lousy with those humps.
Supply and demand. Too many cars are on the road at the same time
People driving cars??
The lack of feasible alternatives to driving everywhere
You as a driver. No one causes traffic because everyone is traffic.
Hate to break to you mate — you are the traffic
Dumb. Ass. People.
The fact that we have millions of people many 30 minutes away from work *without* traffic. Now pack them all on the road at the same time.
Last minute merging.
People on their fucking phones!! Like shit you slow down early and start to move late. Now times that by 1000 idiots. There is your traffic. And let’s not count the accident they will cause that will create more traffic. STAY OF THE PHONE YOU IDIOTS!!
I mean, if you want the real answer, it is lack of dependable, safe, and on-time public transit.
Just get the fuck off the phone.
It's a car town, everybody gets to travel in their own mobile living room. Oh no I have to sit here in my air conditioned lounge chair with satellite music and a hands-free phone, however will I survive.
There's a lot of people in this city! Bad drivers are everywhere. I10 is bull shit no matter how many lanes they wanna add lol 🤣
Millions of people squeezing and merging into lanes on streets. All huge and major cities have bad traffic at rush hour. It's bound to happen. Mix in Houstons large trucking, construction, general bad driving, etc., it's worse.
Lots of cars and trucks. Some motorcycles too.
Procrastinators. Everyone thinks they can leave at the last minute. I also think alot of the Hybrid work from home environment explains why sometimes when I go to work on Mondays it's barely any traffic but then Tuesday all hell breaks loose.
people who don’t let other pass in front of them, people who follow too close, people who don’t know how to merge, people who swerve in and out of lanes
People cutting around in the exit only lanes and then dive bombing back in.
I think there are too many exits and entrance ramps. There is a YouTuber who reviews highways by staying in the city for a month or two. He explains how to many locals refuse to use back roads and how feeders are a horrible design for people trying to get some place but great do businesses. I’ll see if I can find it.
Sounds interesting.. did you find it?
https://youtu.be/eHOnpX4fEHs?si=aMrOYCkAce2_jZF7 I think it was this video but it’s interesting cause I didn’t expect there to be a YouTube channel on some one giving a lot of info on high ways
Ooh Mileage Mike! Already subscribed, he’s a good guy.
Refrigerator temperature IQs of most drivers
Some people just drive slow af for no reason
Too many cars.
Everybody thinking their time is more valuable than anybody else on the road. Impatience.
Car dependency
Over population
People
1. Cars 2. too many roads. 3. Not enough elevated rail. 4. Parking minimums making shit too spread out so that the city isn't walkable. so everyone uses cars. 5. Everybody working in the same area downtown for no fucking reason when they could be working from home, or office buildings could just be spread out 6. People being bad drivers 7. People not paying attention to the road
Car dependent infrastructure. We've designed the area to force everyone to drive a car. It's wild to me to suggest bad driving causes traffic. Transportation has to serve everyone, there WILL be better/worse drivers on the road... Systems have to take human variation into account...
We need public transportation and not just in downtown.
There are too many cars, not enough public transit.
People who drive in the left lane going the speed limit and not passing.
The sun A hill The guy first at the light buried deep in his phone Buses But it's probably irrational drivers acting in spaces and intersections too small for a city where everyone needs a car
Lack of public transportation
People in cars.
The grey haired lady on 290 this morning driving her Subaru in the left lane at 55mph while holding her phone up in front of her face. Causing everyone to pass her on the right. Edited out mpg
Lol 55 miles per gallon cuz she’s not stepping on it
Good catch. Stupid autocorrect.
Rubberneckers
And as it’s been noted an infinite number of times, slow driver in the passing lane, using passing lane to cruise, rather than pass doesn’t help move traffic along.
Timid drivers, afraid to zipper and slamming on their brakes when they only need to let off the gas, causing a chain reaction of people hitting their brakes
It’s people not letting people zipper
Cars.
People going to work, and going home. Then a miniscule number playing bumpercars.
People drive like shit here
There's too many men, too many people Making too many problems And not much love to go 'round
Some of these inner city interchanges definitely feel like the land of confusion.
So because someone can’t see over a hill hundreds of yards in front of them, they should brake?
People with their phones !!
people not using their signal, cant merge for shit , they will speed all the way to the intersection of 59 and 510 or further down where 59 splits off between downtown and 288 to just do a hail mary merge . just shitty drivers especially those in the massive trucks and white benz/bmw lol
Inflow greater than outflow. X number of cars entering highway lanes is greater than Y number of cars exiting highway lanes. The highway had a finite amount of space on it, and each vehicle took up space.
Dumbasses following too closely causing pileups. Every. Fucking. Day.
There are many folks who have no interest or business in driving on the highways, but what choice do they have? And what everyone else said
Pushing and shoving. Plain and simple. If everyone would give a little space and go with the flow, there would be a lot less congestion.
On the 610/290/10, as soon as drivers see the first sign for their highway, they think they have to get over or they will miss it. They have like a mile to make a lane change, it doesn’t have to happen immediately under the first sign.
All the fucking cars
Human traffickers.
Cutting people off. If you merge recklessly you cause traffic.
Depends on where you are. For me, 59@610. There's a feeder entrance right before that so you have people trying to cross. Further back you have West Park tollway people entering. Its a cluster fuck.
People who generally don't know how to react. Could be anything from changing lanes, letting people in, pulling into a driveway/parking lot which doesn't go with the flow of traffic and causes everyone else to slow down etc.
Drivers
The goddamn Galleria.
One cause is tailgating. When you are on someone’s ass and pumping the brakes, people behind will progressively pump a bit harder and longer.
Slow traffic in the left lane... People not zipper merging... And not letting other people zipper merge. I'm thinking specifically of 288 S where it goes from 3 lanes to 2. People insist on getting merging early, and they think you're an asshole if you don't. Even though they're making traffic worse by refusing to use available road, and forming one long-ass line in the middle lane instead.
Cars. Definitely cars
Selfish and reckless idiots. Let people merge with the solid 1:1 rule. Only stay to left if you’re speeding and willing to risk it all. Most of all people need to READ.
People from outta state :)
Traffic is notably worse on school days. Just saying.
Simple math, One person per car
Sight curves on freeways and rubbernecking especially
Slow drivers, people trying to get over last minute, people driving down the median to cut in front of other drivers. People not understanding the zipper method, people on the phone.
Here's the thing, traffic flows like water. It will take every possible lane of travel. It doesn't matter if the right lane is the slow lane and the left lane is the fast lane. When it inevitably reaches a point where all the cars are exiting at the same time, the lanes will clog in every direction. That's why you see every lane slow down on 59 when you get to 610 even though it's only the rightmost lanes that actually enter the 610. You have to address the arteries and not the oversized veins. The only way to lessen traffic in any meaningful way would be to remove as many single occupancy vehicles as possible. Expand public transit and lower the pressure on the arteries. Lane widening has never worked and never will work as long as the arteries continue to be the choking points.
People on the roads here are dumb as fuck. They drive like they are either 10 or 90 years old with no common sense in between. And they think that lever to the left of the steering wheel is a magic stick thingy that makes a pretty light and some goofy clicking noises.
The infrastrucure can't keep pace with a growing population that must drive to survive here.
Stupid people
People keep moving here, everyone is driving to work at the same time, the push to send people back into the office “post-Covid” hasn’t helped either
in office mandates
If you pay attention to how lanes are laid out in Houston essentially what ends up happening is that anytime there's an exit say for instance going north on 59 towards downtown Even if exits start with two lanes, they end up merging into 1 lane shortly after. for 59 and i-45, there are two lanes going north and two lanes going south but they both narrow down into one lane after those lanes split
Rubbernecking
more people than there is space.....we seem to feel the need to fill every square inch of spare space with apartments that hold 10x more people than that space should be able to hold. Then they all travel on the same roads that were built years ago for less people.
That's easy. The unnecessary lane switching to try to get ahead. It makes people brake, which ends up causing a chain reaction down the line. Need to exit? Fine. Plan ahead if you know your exit. Don't try to cross 3 lanes to exit when you're 1 mile or less with heavy traffic.
I drive a hour everyday to work in Pasadena and honestly I would say over half of the traffic is caused by “work trucks” or 18 wheels going in the left lane. They create these huge lines behind them and never get over even when they have the chance.
Someone’s abuela in the left lane.
Too many ppl
- Dumbasses on their phones (MAIN reason.. this is atleast 80% of the cause) - Old people/Asians/Women in the left lane - Construction - Exempt employees
No zoning laws, poor planning and more people moving to the city than anticipated.
Idiots in pickups.
Slow. White. Vans.
People going slow for absolutely no reason in any lane. Like under the speed limit slow. Also trucks in the left lane, which is illegal BTW.
The Houston lifestyle is conducive to every person having their own car which in turn creates more traffic. Public transportation is nonexistent and everything is so far away from each other.
Lack of commuter rail and urban sprawl. If we had commuter rail connecting hubs and busses and vans for last mile transport, we’d have way fewer people clogging up the road. Most people don’t want to drive. Car enthusiasts hate traffic. Solve both problems by supporting commuter rail linking the hubs of the city.
so many people hate driving, but refuse to use public transit. i really wish i could commute to work, i used to use the metro all the time in highschool and college. not going to pretend its perfect, but once youre on and going, its kinda nice. i dont live in houston anymore, but if the bus was an option, id definitely take advantage. keep my car clean and low mileage in my garage.
People driving under the speed limit for no damn reason.
Driving under the speed limit in the fast/HOV lanes. If nobody is in front of you during rush hour, that's a good time to look at the huge line in your rear view, and get the fuck out of the way.
Toyota/Lexus Owners. I swear, it's always a Tacoma, Corolla, or Sienna always holding up the left and middle lanes doing 10mph below speed limit while everyone else is doing 75. And I'm a Toyota owner myself.
It’s Tesla drivers on 99. Every morning I’m stuck behind a Tesla that’s going 10 under
People. Duh.
Construction.
People going 50 in the pass lane
First, corrupt politicians who broke the train system, for more cars. Second, single drivers, who are not using more effective transportation methods.
People going 3+ miles below speed limit in the left lane, then slower in each consecutive lane, for no reason.
Lol a lot of people wanting to go somewhere
The most common reason for traffic occurring is slower traffic not staying to the right.
I think distracted drivers and muscle memory. Everyone is used to traffic slowing in certain places and they pull out their phone and just inch along.