Adding more freeway lanes seems like an obvious solution, except for the fact that it doesn’t work.
Carmageddon 2 405 freeway drivers#
LA drivers spend over half a billion hours per year stuck in excess traffic delays, which costs the economy roughly $12 billion dollars. Since the city obviously doesn’t want people to “stay the Hell away” forever, they’re going to have to come up with another way to use incentives if they want to tackle gridlock. The most important lesson, though, is that people respond to incentives. Citing Carmageddon as an example of how we can do with less automobile traffic is like pointing to a blackout as an example of how we can reduce electricity consumption. These types of deferrals can be arranged, but rarely, and with sufficient notice. Several film and television productions were shut down for the weekend. Many radio shows even pre-taped segments to keep their guests from getting stuck in traffic. Since it was on a weekend, most of them didn’t. People in LA are grudgingly willing to tolerate the country’s worst traffic, but they’re not willing to venture into the city with Interstate 405 closed unless they have to. But everyone knows LA traffic is usually incredibly bad, yet they endure it on a daily basis. The fact that the apocalyptic term Carmageddon caught on certainly helped permeate the public consciousness. Billboards went up the media counted down celebrities Tweeted warnings at the behest of the city Mayor Villaraigosa advised people to “go on vacation,” and councilor Paul Koretz told people to “stay the Hell away.” But this only works in acute situations, where there is a credible threat. The fear stirred up about the closure for months obviously worked. When faced with the right incentives, people will drive less.Persuasion can convince people to drive less under unusual circumstances–temporarily.
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