howeird | Devilling with the traffic (Reply)

Apologies to

figmo, who earns a living (or at least part of it) by doing this well, but I am just plain annoyed by routine traffic reports on both radio & tv. It wastes my time, brings in some of the most annoying commercials (I especially hate it when alleged newscasters are forced to deliver ad tag lines) and in the rare event when they are reporting a commute-threatening accident, it is almost always too late for anyone to avoid it. Either they are already stuck, or by the time they reach the scene the accident will have been cleared. This is especially true of TV traffic reports, except for those morons who watch TV in their cars.

Also, how ridiculous is it for someone to be telling me, a few miles from San Jose, every 10 minutes about how long the line is to get over the Bay Bridge from Oakland to SF? It doesn't help the commuters either - they will be in that line regardless.

Treat it as breaking news. Let me know when a big rig spills lethal chemicals, or a car has caught fire, or there has been a hit-and-run. Do it as a segment of the half-hourly local news. I don't need to hear it over and over again a dozen times an hour.

And no, I was not the one who called in the phony report of a herd of emus attacking vehicles in the fast lane on 101 near Morgan Hill.