The genesis of these posts come from observations made each day. Sometimes it’s with a conversation with a person, an experience, watching something happen, or a collated thought based on all the above.

After driving many hours today on what I consider the worst highway in the world (from experience, I’d rather drive downtown L.A. during rush hour than this highway* at 2am), I have to concede highways were designed to be litmus tests in human patience.

First you deal with the traffic itself as it tightens and lightens, creating a complete inconsistency in the speed you get to travel. Then you add on those who aren’t used to the unwritten, and written, rules of highway driving that makes the experience smoother and safer for all. Then add those who feel the rules don’t apply to them.

Now you add the frustration of the many drivers on their commute and the one person who stops paying attention, for whatever reason, and causes an accident. They just happen to cause an accident in a construction zone where lanes are closed down, already slowing traffic to a halt.

If you’re lucky, you won’t be further contending with weather conditions, which just compounds each of the above. And if you’re really lucky, there’s no one else in the vehicle to cause you strife as it all happens.

Given the circumstances, we shouldn’t be telling people we’re travelling somewhere. Instead, we should let them know we are putting our patience to the test.

It’s for this reason, I cannot wait for the day when self-driving vehicles are the norm.

*The highway in question is also the busiest freeway in North America: Highway 401