A correlation between physics and traffic.

Physics and planar motion are related? Get out.

In all seriousness, getting home after work or school would be so much easier if all drivers were required to take (and pass) a high school physics course.

My rant concerns the ridiculous traffic between my school and my house – the displacement between AP Government and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. In the following problems, we will neglect the force of gravity between my compact car and the behemoth truck behind me which is slowing me down.

Over my past 9 months of legally having permission to drive a vehicle, I have noticed several trends among people with cars. I’ll talk about the others at a later time, but one particular problem has been bothering me for quite a while: cars are turning into the wrong lane.

When a driver wants to turn onto a road, he must make an important decision: go now and risk death, or go later and risk having to wait 5 minutes. Most choose the former.

I have no problem with drivers recklessly turning into my lane and zooming off ahead of me, but the ones that dilly dally in my lane traveling at a leisurely 15 mph on a 50 mph road instead of going to the empty lane right next to mine demonstrate apathy towards others as well as carelessness for their own lives (If I happened to be on my phone like some of these jerks, I definitely would not be able to react in time, putting both of our lives in danger).

I am not just saying all of this because I am selfish (Maybe I am.), but for the sake of other drivers too. When a slow driver turns into a lane, it forces not only the person directly behind him to slow down, but everyone behind the driver must slow down accordingly. This could send a ripple for several miles in a congested road. This, my friends, is the reason for the random slowdowns in traffic.

So hear my plea, and learn how to turn right (pun intended).

If you are still having difficulties, observe the diagram below.