Today, you have a doctor’s appointment in the morning followed by a vehicle maintenance appointment in the early afternoon. After those appointments are done, you will need to pick up your prescriptions at the pharmacy before they close for the day. You have taken the day off and think that all of this could be wrapped up before four in the afternoon.
Upon leaving your home early for the doctor’s appointment, the roads are filled with other cars each going their respective speed limits. Unfortunately, every stop light that appears on your way to your appointment always ends up red and you are behind a slew of other cars. The light turns green, but lasts for mere seconds, only to have you continue to wait at every stop light longer.
Eventually, you end up at your doctor’s appointment late thanks to all that traffic. The appointment ends and you return to driving to your vehicle maintenance appointment. Only this time, you decide to take a different route that you know is less crowded with traffic and no stop lights. However, upon driving your secret route, there once again is another line of cars that impede your driving time. Cars and trucks alike exist on both sides of the roads, slowing your time with their driving habits.
The route you took to get to your next appointment set you back even further and the time is now 2:30pm in the afternoon. What happened? There were not supposed to be that many cars on that route! Your vehicle will need at least two hours to run through the inspection; since you did not have lunch yet, you decide to walk to a café.
Upon waiting two hours, the street view from the café is nothing but car after car for two hours straight. You start to wonder where are all of these people are going in the afternoon around this small part of town. Then you question what these people do for a living. Do they not work until five in the afternoon anymore and drive around town all day?
You return to the mechanic shop to have them report your vehicle’s condition and realize that the pharmacy closes soon! You quickly get back on the road, but are stuck again in a heap of traffic. Time is against you and the drivers on the road are numerous. Everywhere you drive, there are just vehicles that block your last activity for the day. Admitting only defeat in the time wasted getting to the pharmacy, you decide to drive home.
An entire day spent driving and exhausted, you arrive home from the devastating realization of traffic at nearly 6:45pm. Why is there an abundance of cars on the roads or was it simply a bad day? According to Statista, there has been over 284 million vehicles operating on roads through the United States since the second quarter of 2022. Looking over the data throughout the years, there is clearly an increase of traffic.
This is just for the United States alone, ACEA reports that vehicle usage in Europe is up by 1.7% since 2019. Many countries are seeing an increase of vehicle population since the pandemic of Covid-19. The real question becomes: why are there so many vehicles being used?
One reason is because of inflation according to the YouTube video Uber reports increase in drivers by KING 5. The amount of costs of things such as groceries, living expenses, and daily amenities has risen, which caused people to pick up hustling jobs for extra funds. While this does seem like a viable reason, people have skills and talents that warrant the needs for the job market.
Plus, online schooling has picked up in the last few years to expedite training for skills that people normally would need to apply for college entry. The whole pandemic of Covid-19 warning people to distance themselves properly should also be taken into consideration. Thus, the common sense approach must be used to solve the mystery of increased traffic.
Covid-19 hit the world like a tsunami; causing many people to panic, worry, doubt, and question their lives. Then government officials demanded that their citizens remain in their homes for almost a year and distance themselves from others. But distancing yourself from others proved to be difficult and began to stress people out.
Driving around in a car allows people to still see others, but remain safely distanced from them. The simple nature of interacting with others still lingers while driving and makes people feel less isolated than they were before. In addition with driving with others, a person is not restricted to their household. Which was a very depressing act for some people during the beginning of Covid-19.
However, while the fortuitous nature of the pandemic still remains, the increase of drivers is a problem. Whether we will see another rise of drivers to come this year or the next, the fact remains that the amount of vehicles on the road is ridiculous.
The name “Pondersaur” means “words with a roar” alluding to the creature’s distinct communication.
