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| In Maddening Traffic, Even Road Rage Is Too Much Trouble | In Maddening Traffic, Even Road Rage Is Too Much Trouble |
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| MEXICO CITY — From the top of a tall building on a clear night, the traffic here looks like a stream of light — bright white flowing one way, ruby red the other. On the ground, however, it’s painfully obvious that the opposite is true: nearly everyone is stuck. | MEXICO CITY — From the top of a tall building on a clear night, the traffic here looks like a stream of light — bright white flowing one way, ruby red the other. On the ground, however, it’s painfully obvious that the opposite is true: nearly everyone is stuck. |
| How stuck varies, but here in a crowded city of 20 million people and around four million cars, six-hour commutes are not uncommon. Some wedding receptions end more quickly than the time it takes to drive a dozen miles at 6 p.m. | How stuck varies, but here in a crowded city of 20 million people and around four million cars, six-hour commutes are not uncommon. Some wedding receptions end more quickly than the time it takes to drive a dozen miles at 6 p.m. |
| Outsiders tend to be stunned. On YouTube, dozens of videos show visitors marveling at long lines of cars as motionless as a corpse, or drivers shamelessly ignoring red lights while traffic cops watch. | Outsiders tend to be stunned. On YouTube, dozens of videos show visitors marveling at long lines of cars as motionless as a corpse, or drivers shamelessly ignoring red lights while traffic cops watch. |
| Local residents complain, too, of course. But usually they just endure. Cars are still status symbols here, preferred even when public transport is faster, and drivers have generally come to accept the lost time and dirtier air brought by too many cars on clogged roads. | Local residents complain, too, of course. But usually they just endure. Cars are still status symbols here, preferred even when public transport is faster, and drivers have generally come to accept the lost time and dirtier air brought by too many cars on clogged roads. |
| “There is a resignation when it comes to traffic,” said Bernardo Baranda Sepúlveda, Latin America director of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, an international nonprofit promoting sustainable transit. “In a way it’s good because otherwise we’d be killing each other, but it’s also frustrating because people here aren’t complaining and demanding better options.” | “There is a resignation when it comes to traffic,” said Bernardo Baranda Sepúlveda, Latin America director of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, an international nonprofit promoting sustainable transit. “In a way it’s good because otherwise we’d be killing each other, but it’s also frustrating because people here aren’t complaining and demanding better options.” |
| Instead of acting as conduits, many streets and highways have morphed into human retention ponds. Experts say that drivers have become increasingly trapped in a sea of idling cars as the middle class has grown and bought into driving, and as government construction on a second level to the main peripheral highway creates havoc. Add regular street protests — including recent marches by thousands of teachers trying to block an education overhaul — and it’s no wonder that strange scenes have emerged wherever maddening traffic can be found. | Instead of acting as conduits, many streets and highways have morphed into human retention ponds. Experts say that drivers have become increasingly trapped in a sea of idling cars as the middle class has grown and bought into driving, and as government construction on a second level to the main peripheral highway creates havoc. Add regular street protests — including recent marches by thousands of teachers trying to block an education overhaul — and it’s no wonder that strange scenes have emerged wherever maddening traffic can be found. |
| Indeed, at the locations where walking is faster than driving (highways included), an ecosystem of class, creativity and commerce has evolved. Buskers and street vendors hawking an ever-expanding array of products, from bug zappers to puppies, can be found alongside criminals reaching into open windows. There are also new arrivals, like women in tight uniforms handing out samples of the latest energy drink, or holding giant banners advertising cellphones or televisions. | Indeed, at the locations where walking is faster than driving (highways included), an ecosystem of class, creativity and commerce has evolved. Buskers and street vendors hawking an ever-expanding array of products, from bug zappers to puppies, can be found alongside criminals reaching into open windows. There are also new arrivals, like women in tight uniforms handing out samples of the latest energy drink, or holding giant banners advertising cellphones or televisions. |
| At the center of it all, despite increased bicycle use, is still the driver. “A car is a bubble,” Mr. Baranda noted, and inside millions battle the boredom of being stuck. That often involves technology. At rush hour in many neighborhoods, getting e-mail on a phone is a frustrating game of chance because of overwhelming demand. | At the center of it all, despite increased bicycle use, is still the driver. “A car is a bubble,” Mr. Baranda noted, and inside millions battle the boredom of being stuck. That often involves technology. At rush hour in many neighborhoods, getting e-mail on a phone is a frustrating game of chance because of overwhelming demand. |
| A city law prohibits talking on the phone, but it is widely ignored. On one recent morning, at the intersection of Paseo de la Reforma and Avenida Hidalgo, a police officer pulled up to the light in a silver hatchback blabbing away, a phone stuck to his ear. | A city law prohibits talking on the phone, but it is widely ignored. On one recent morning, at the intersection of Paseo de la Reforma and Avenida Hidalgo, a police officer pulled up to the light in a silver hatchback blabbing away, a phone stuck to his ear. |
| Every red light revealed much the same — distracted driving amid chaos. At one point, a woman peeling an orange arrived at a red light, and another driver was texting as a man with a mohawk rushed his dachshund across the wide intersection. A quarter-mile back, a police cruiser tried to weave through the knotted cars, its siren competing with honking horns and Roman Catholic hymns flowing from a church at the corner. | |
| Defying it all, a homeless man slept in the median. | Defying it all, a homeless man slept in the median. |
| A few lights later, a taxi broke down in the right lane, further complicating the mess. A man selling gum pushed the car out of the way, though it took a while because of the traffic. “Foreigners are always asking me to go faster,” said the driver, Roberto García, 40. “It’s just not possible.” | A few lights later, a taxi broke down in the right lane, further complicating the mess. A man selling gum pushed the car out of the way, though it took a while because of the traffic. “Foreigners are always asking me to go faster,” said the driver, Roberto García, 40. “It’s just not possible.” |
| He said he had just come from Aragon, a neighborhood about five miles away, though he insisted it had to be triple that distance: “It took me 40 minutes to get here,” he said. “It should have taken 10.” | |
| Asked what taxi drivers do when stuck in traffic, Mr. García said they simply look for fares. But many others look at themselves. Instagram is full of self-portraits, or “selfies,” from people stuck in Mexico City traffic. | Asked what taxi drivers do when stuck in traffic, Mr. García said they simply look for fares. But many others look at themselves. Instagram is full of self-portraits, or “selfies,” from people stuck in Mexico City traffic. |
| Vimeo and YouTube reveal broader signs of creativity. Humor is inevitable — for example, the cartoon of a man struggling to convince himself he is progressing in stopped traffic — but there is also music, some of it good. Indeed, if there is a benefit to the choking helplessness of traffic here, it may be the clip of Jenny and the Mexicats jamming in their van a few months ago. | Vimeo and YouTube reveal broader signs of creativity. Humor is inevitable — for example, the cartoon of a man struggling to convince himself he is progressing in stopped traffic — but there is also music, some of it good. Indeed, if there is a benefit to the choking helplessness of traffic here, it may be the clip of Jenny and the Mexicats jamming in their van a few months ago. |
| And where are the traffic police, one might ask? Absent, mostly. If they happen to be at an intersection, they are rarely obeyed. In interviews, some say their bosses do not even give them tickets to hand out. | And where are the traffic police, one might ask? Absent, mostly. If they happen to be at an intersection, they are rarely obeyed. In interviews, some say their bosses do not even give them tickets to hand out. |
| A few fed-up Chilangos, as Mexico City residents are called, have started to fill the void. High school and college students with Mexico’s Ministry of Youth sometimes direct traffic while dressed as mimes, taking a cue from a creative approach once used in Bogotá, Colombia. Around Reforma, a young man in a Lucha Libre mask calling himself Peatónito — little pedestrian — can also be found pushing cars out of the crosswalk in a personal effort to improve public safety. (Around 1,300 people die annually in Mexico City traffic accidents; more than half are pedestrians and cyclists.) | A few fed-up Chilangos, as Mexico City residents are called, have started to fill the void. High school and college students with Mexico’s Ministry of Youth sometimes direct traffic while dressed as mimes, taking a cue from a creative approach once used in Bogotá, Colombia. Around Reforma, a young man in a Lucha Libre mask calling himself Peatónito — little pedestrian — can also be found pushing cars out of the crosswalk in a personal effort to improve public safety. (Around 1,300 people die annually in Mexico City traffic accidents; more than half are pedestrians and cyclists.) |
| But mostly the job of reminding drivers to pay attention falls to those trying to squeeze money out of rolled-down windows. Around 6 out of 10 workers in Mexico toil in the informal economy, according to government figures, and some experts say that as car ownership and traffic have increased, more people have taken to the streets to make a living from those who are stuck. | But mostly the job of reminding drivers to pay attention falls to those trying to squeeze money out of rolled-down windows. Around 6 out of 10 workers in Mexico toil in the informal economy, according to government figures, and some experts say that as car ownership and traffic have increased, more people have taken to the streets to make a living from those who are stuck. |
| At the very least, vendors and drivers say, the variety of what is being sold has expanded. An incomplete list now includes: guitars, herbs, world maps, cellphone chargers, water, tamales, tacos, roses, newspapers, umbrellas, breakfast trays, waist-high Spider-Man action figures, single cigarettes, blankets and hammocks. | |
| Criminals have also jumped in, robbing people trapped in traffic, and so have big businesses, including Samsung, with attractive men and women handing out sales fliers or holding banners at busy intersections. And not surprisingly, it works. For those with nothing better to do, a glossy pamphlet and a little human interaction seem to be welcome. After all, they’re not going anywhere anytime soon. | Criminals have also jumped in, robbing people trapped in traffic, and so have big businesses, including Samsung, with attractive men and women handing out sales fliers or holding banners at busy intersections. And not surprisingly, it works. For those with nothing better to do, a glossy pamphlet and a little human interaction seem to be welcome. After all, they’re not going anywhere anytime soon. |