Traffic Congestion - largely our own fault (Houston, San Antonio: apartments, house)

[TheyCallMeDerek]

Originally Posted by jobert

I think 15K miles a year is excessive... let's break it down: 15K/year = 1,250/month = 41 miles a day. That's a lot, even if you were to go on long road trips say, twice yearly.

The NHTSA estimates over 12,000. In 2008 Toyota put out a press release for its Prius that mentioned that the average was around 15,000 for the past 7 years.

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by JayBrown80

This may be neither here nor there,

But when I was growing up, I lived in the country. And when I say country, I mean 40 miles from the nearest grocery store, an hour from the nearest hospital, 3 channels on a rabbit ear, country.

And while that has its pros and cons, one of the major things it taught me was PLAN AHEAD.

If you needed groceries you didn't drive home, change out of your work clothes, have a drink, then drive to the store. You did it on the way home. If kids had Karate/soccer/ballet, you didn't drive them to and from, they took those classes at school, and they would just hang around the lunchroom after class waiting for whatever program to start. If you decided at 10PM at night that you HAD to have some ice cream, you either walked to the freezer and got it, or you were SOL.

I think a lot of the increase is driving is just simply "casual" driving. The, "oh, it's a lazy sunday, let's go walk around IKEA" or the "wow, that commercial I just saw for burger king looked so good, I am going to go get some". When I lived so far out, the proximity forced me not to do any extraneous driving. But in Austin, things are so close, you don't realize how much everything is adding up.

I have gotten really lazy about it. Just last weekend I had a BBQ and I sent DH to the store 3 times to pick up stuff I forgot but just "had to have". We all need to be more disciplined and keep ourselves from driving without need. Either plan ahead, or do without. Really, that is a good mantra to live your life by.

Although, I have had my Prius for over a year, and I just went over 10K mileage about 2 weeks ago. And I drive all over Austin for work, so I think I am doing pretty good.

I tried to rep you on this one but I have to spread it around a bit first. (Bet THAT surprises you! )

Planning ahead is a skill that we should all practice, but living in the country enforces it. Weekly shopping used to be the order of the day, most families did it (even within my memory) even when living in town, but it seems to have fallen by the wayside. Perhaps it should be emphasized as one of the ways to go "green", since that's in right now.

[TheyCallMeDerek]

Originally Posted by CptnRn

It is entirely understandable that real estate agents have no choice but to put on lots of miles while performing their job.

I don't think we can outlaw "rubbernecking", it would be impossible to enforce or differentiate from the natural human tendency to slow down and drive more cautiously when passing the scene of an accident. We don't want people racing through those accident sites.

A man ran into a fire truck last week because he had not slowed down enough to negotiate the accident scene.

It is such a problem that that fire truck was intentionally parked where it was to serve as a barricade and provide a safe work area for the accident investigators.

Naturally I was jesting about outlawing Rubbernecking and I'm sure that throught the country unattentive drivers crash into first responders way too many times. Most times when police/public servants actually WANT you to slow down they place cones out along with flashing lights, otherwise they'd just like you to move along. Countless accidents are caused by slowing down in the form of rear ends, but that's commonplace I suppose.

[achtungpv]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

Weekly shopping used to be the order of the day, most families did it (even within my memory) even when living in town, but it seems to have fallen by the wayside. Perhaps it should be emphasized as one of the ways to go "green", since that's in right now.

I've found it to be a waste of money to shop weekly. We don't know what we're going to be doing 3 days from now so it's pointless to buy a week's worth of fresh produce and meat that will go bad if we don't get to it. I find it much easier and less wasteful to go shopping every 3 days or so. I'm efficient so I can be in and out in 20 minutes as long as the wife doesn't tag along. Every time we've bought for a week, much of it goes to waste.

[mimimomx3]

One suggestion I make a lot is work where you live- I don't understand working in South Austin and living North. Makes no sense.

[verybadgnome]

Originally Posted by mimimomx3

One suggestion I make a lot is work where you live- I don't understand working in South Austin and living North. Makes no sense.

Hear Hear.

Cost less: Check
Saves time: Check
Greener: Check
Option to take transit, bike or walk to work: Check

Most people - aside from issues like school districts which even then are sometimes overblown - should be more flexible in this regard. There are long-term Austinites that refuse to live either North or South of the river. Why? People are not rational and Americans aren't very much either even when it comes to their pocketbooks on this issue.

[orngkat]

What is it that is making us drive so much more then we used to

I believe it is cheap gas. When the price got so high a year ago or so, I saw a definite change in driving patterns.

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by achtungpv

I've found it to be a waste of money to shop weekly. We don't know what we're going to be doing 3 days from now so it's pointless to buy a week's worth of fresh produce and meat that will go bad if we don't get to it. I find it much easier and less wasteful to go shopping every 3 days or so. I'm efficient so I can be in and out in 20 minutes as long as the wife doesn't tag along. Every time we've bought for a week, much of it goes to waste.

I used to have this problem. Then I remembered the way it worked back in the day when we more or less had to shop weekly because of work schedules and kids and time was as precious as money, and there was precious little money.

What I did was, I planned for the week. Surprisingly little went to waste (we couldn't afford for it to) and my grocery bill was dramatically less than that of most of the folks we knew, and we ate well (the one thing we won't economize on is quality of food).

Things like planning meals from leftovers - jambalaya is a favorite from those days - and judicious use of the freezer made it work. Those were skills that I resurrected when we moved to the country.

Right now, we have about a month's worth of meat in the freezer (more of some items), that we purchased in bulk (we're out of one cow and the next one isn't ready to be slaughtered yet) and that I divided into individual pieces to be frozen in gallon ziplocs labeled with the name of the item and the date they were put in there. Canned goods we have a backup supply of, and when we get down to one of any item, it goes on the grocery list on the front of the freezer to be restocked. Same thing with items like toilet paper, toothpaste, etc.

Fresh veggies are bought weekly. We don't overbuy, have our meals planned, as said, and things that don't get eaten can always be thrown into the "soup bag" in the freezer to be made into soup or into vegetable stock when we have the time.

It IS possible, it's just a habit to get into, and you do have to be (or learn to be, which is what I had to do, of necessity) the kind of person who plans ahead. Which is what the comment was about, one can lower the number of miles one drives by planning. I never drive somewhere for just one purpose any more (well, to the hospital, I suppose, if it were necessary) - I always figure out what needs to be done that can be done along with whatever trip I need to make right now, and try to get three, four, or more things done in a single trip, planning my route to save distance and time. Works like a charm!

[hoffdano]

Originally Posted by mimimomx3

One suggestion I make a lot is work where you live- I don't understand working in South Austin and living North. Makes no sense.

Works great until you change jobs.

Or is this a plan that works best if you a civil servant working a lifetime job?

[austin-steve]

What is it that is making us drive so much more then we used to?

Large baby boomer population with teenagers to haul around to sports, lessons, and other stuff. Anyone have a kid in club volleyball or the equivalent? 2 practices a week and a tournament ever 1-4 weeks during the season, including Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and you rack up the miles pretty quick.

Steve