We’ve all had that experience, I think, where the road seemed perfectly clear, and then, out of nowhere, a car comes whizzing at us.  Whether it is a moment’s inattention that allowed the car to sneak up on us, or a blind corner or glaring sun that masked that vehicle until the last minute, or maybe someone just driving like a mad man makes no difference at all.  We still have those encounters that are too close for comfort.

It also seems to me that it is getting worse.

It turns out that it isn’t just my imagination.  While I am becoming old and cranky and less adaptable to the chaos on the roads, there really are more cars out there than when I learned to drive; sixty-seven percent more to be specific.

According to Department of Transportation statistics there were 246 million registered vehicles out of the road in 2009, the latest year for which I was able to find data.  That’s an increase of 99 million since I got my learner’s permit.

Even more problematic is the number of miles those cars are driven each year.  While the length of public roads in the United States has increased only 5.2% in the years I have been driving, vehicle miles traveled has nearly doubled from 1.5 trillion miles in 1977 to almost 3 trillion miles in 2009.  That means that, on average, every single one-mile stretch of road in the country would have 2,070 cars on it each day, but only if all roads were used equally.

We all know that roads are not used equally.  The roads we use every day are the same ones that everyone else is using everyday.  There crowded.  Eighty-four percent more crowded.

I am a numbers girl.  Alas, the numbers cannot tell me where that car came from.  I can tell, though, that they are coming more frequently.

With weather turning colder and darkness falling earlier and holiday travel on the horizon I just wanted to offer a reminder to drive gently.

 

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