A Case against commuting in traffic

A big reason why I want to achieve location independence is all of the commuting in traffic that I experience.  I don’t necessarily have to live in an exoctic locaiton to be happy.  No, I could easily be happy right here at home in my apartment IF I can avoid commuting in traffic.  Of course the exotic locations are a real bonus though.

Why I hate commuting in traffic

On a weekend, driving to work only takes 20 min.  Ya I have gone to work on a weekend, but not always to do work. No it’s not all bad, you can go to steal office supplies, work on your car, or use the printer.  I consider that an acceptable commute especially when there are no container clowns, busses, or garbage tucks out there aiming for me.  But come Monday and all the road warriors are on the road drive that time goes way up. Then of course our trusty road crews and construction personnel like to add their mark to that tally as well.  Add in an accident and you’re day is blown.  These days my commute has morphed into an unbearable 45 minutes each way.  Some may find that ok, but I consider that unaccable and unsustainable.  If you consider a 45 minute commute to work for someone else’s company acceptable, then you’re on the wrong blog.

My industrial park only has two entrance/exits.  It’s slow during every rush hour, but if there’s an accident or incident, then you’re staying at work until 8pm if you don’t want to join the 2 hour commuting parade. Hope you brought some car wash soap and a six pack.

Do the math

We’re all engineers, so we can do some simple math here.
Say you make $72k per year, that’s $6k per month, or roughly $300 per day.
Sure your boss would say that’s $37.50 per hour. But to him, the only hours that count are those that you directly work for him.
But we’re engineers, we are smarter than that. Between spending 8-9 hours working, 1 hour on breaks, 1.5 hours commuting – well round that up to 12 hours from the time you leave home to the time you get back.  By my math that’s only $25 per hour YOU spend towards this job. Add in some reading or emails at night and some quiet work on the weekend – congratulations you’ve further reduced your intrinsic value.  This is a race to the bottom.
For even more fun, factor in the fuel, maintenance, and insurance you require for your car.  If you’re folowing along, you must be down below minimum wage by now. Inspired yet?  Then add in personal income taxes.

Health effects of driving – Accidents on the road

I have more fun facts for you.  Where do you think you have a better chance to crack up your car and become a highway stastic?  On your sleepy commute to work or on your walk to your neighbourhood Starbucks?  Yes that’s a rhetorical question.  How many people in your city per month are seriously injured or killed during rush hour?  Ahh the perks of being a dead-icated employee.
If you work in an office for 50 weeks per year, thats 500 commuting trips between your house and your office. If you telecommute at least once per week, this reduces you to 400 trips per year. In my mind that’s a 20% reduction in my chances of becomming a greasy spot on the pavement.  Two days per week of web-commuting = a 40% reduction. Of course, the end goal is complete independence, but I consider every day not on the road to be a blessing.

Stress – oh boy now where do I begin?

Well I bought the BMW and I fulfill all of the clichees – so just stay out of my way.
How many times per week do you get to work or home strung out from the commute? Twice? Three times?
Stress on the commute from near accidents, construction crews, stupid drivers, or incompetently slow truck drivers is bad for your health. You don’t need a doctor to tell you it’s blasting you with stress hormones and messing with your heart rate, blood pressure, and mood. Quite often it’s not work I have to recover from when I get home, no it’s the commuting in traffic and dealign with stupdity.  My opinion is that this is more stressful than most of us think.  When someone cuts you off, how high does your heart rate go?

Exhaust and particulate emissions

Love having your windows open or the top down on your commute?
I sure do, and find it hard not to on a nice day.  The problem is I don’t have a carefree drive through the countryside. There are thousands of cars on the roads I drive and they are all burning diesel or gasoline for fuel. That poorly maintained highway tractor is spewing black smoke into the air at every gear shift.  I work in the diesel engine business and I know this smoke is mostly carbon particles with some unburned fuel adding flavour. This black smoke is carcinogenic and can cause other heart and lung problems. White smoke from a truck, that’s either totally unburned fuel (bad for lungs and heart), burned lubricating oil (containing heavy metals) or burned coolant (not sure what it causes, but can’t be good).  Finally, those gasoline burning cars have their own pollutants which are just as noxious and toxic.  Plus they produce a significant amount of Carbon Monoxide which becomes a poison in the blood.  My advice is to shut the windows and turn the air to recirculate when in heavy traffic.

My rant

It must be obvious by now that commuting in traffic is something that I have a passionate distaste for. When I factor everything in, the time spent and dangers of commuting to and from our industrial facility – it just isn’t worth it anymore. The focus on this blog is on complete location independence – including international relocation. However, the initial goal is definnitely to web commute as much as possible, even if it means having to stay in the same city. Than all you have to do is navigate your way to Starbucks and the gym. I didn’t share a lot of hard data here; this is more anecdotal from articles I have read over the years. When I do come across hard fact numbers on pollution and highway trafic safety, I will definitely share on here.

Why am I writing this?

I have never enjoyed my commute.  I try to make the best of it by going in late after the rush, leaving late again after the rush, listening to podcasts & audiobooks, and driving as much as possible through residential, not industrial zones.  However, this week has been particularily bad and I’ve frankly had enough.  Perhaps I’m fuelled by having some recent success with my AdSense websites.  Perhaps it’s because of the friends I am making inside of the entrepreneurial mastermind I am now a part of.  And most likely becauase I am taking some of my own medecine and planning my own engineering escape.

What are your commuting in traffic horror stories?
Please comment below

Tags: My Journey, Rants, Why Escape?