South Africa's bad traffic wins bronze medal

While driving to work yesterday (and being stuck in traffic as usual), I heard the most interesting story on the radio. Traffic jams in Johannesburg are as common as giving birth, okay maybe a bit extreme, but I’m sure a lot of people would agree. Joburgers have been desensitised when it comes to the traffic issue we face. 

In comparison to the major cities in the world, Johannesburg is relatively small. Imagine my dismay when I discovered that Johannesburg got voted 3^rd worst city to drive in, in the WORLD in a recent poll. At first I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. That moment didn’t last very long, as I was brought back to reality quite soon; I realised I was stuck in traffic. It all started to make sense though. We are living in one of the most dynamic cities in South Africa and possibly the world. So it is only natural that Johannesburg will be a buzz of people chasing after their own little piece of gold.

Oh, but back to the poll.

Here’s the nitty gritty. IBM did a study recently to determine which city is the worst to drive in. They interviewed over 8000 motorists in over 20 cities around the world.

This graph indicates what the rankings are like. And in black and white, clearly you can see that Johannesburg walked away with the bronze medal in the Olympics of bad traffic.  With Beijing’s population nearing 20 million, Mexico City’s population is 20,45 million and  Johannesburg does not even tip the scale, weighing in at 3.2 million . This is actually untrue then, with the population of Johannesburg not nearing as much as Beijing or Mexico City, shouldn’t we be 1^st then?  I wonder if IBM would re do this poll if they heard my reasoning?  To me this seems very far- fetched, but thinking about it clearly this can be true. Take yourself for instance, how many times a week do you get stuck in traffic? From personal experience, I get stuck in traffic 5 times a week, every day I drive to work that is.

 I still have to meet a person that can stay happy and motivated after a bad traffic experience. This made me think how bad traffic puts you in a bad mood and can actually mess up your whole day after that. Surely this can also affect your work performance. In this fast paced world where deadlines and performance are at the order of the day, can we really afford to let a bad mood affect our work performance?  It might be a trivial thing, but apparently is it a big deal. Of course is it a big deal, I hate coming into contact with people who looks miserable and who are clearly in a bad mood.

Luckily is a bad mood easy to rid of. According to doctors, the easiest way to get rid of a bad mood is to exercise. It is not really that easy to do when you are sitting in your car, so what I do is blast my radio at full volume and sometimes I sing along to a song or two. Probably the best advice to handle a bad mood is to embrace it. What this means is to acknowledge that fact that you have bad mood. This will allow you to think about it clearly and to focus your mind on the important things in life.

Let’s try this people, next time you are in a bad mood and stuck in traffic, get out of your car and run a few laps around it. Or run around your desk for a few minutes. You might get a few strange looks from your colleagues, but at least you will make them smile, which in turn would lift their bad mood and prevent frown lines.