Enough Time Stuck in Traffic to Read War and Peace

By Alex in Auto & Transportation on Sep 14, 2008 at 1:36 pm

Ever been stuck in traffic? Who hasn’t? But if you live in Los Angeles, you’re well familiar with being stuck in the parking lots that sometimes – and just sometimes – act like highways.

GOOD Magazine calculated that Los Angelenos spend 72 hours of their lives each year stuck in traffic (What? Just 72 hours? That’s a gross underestimation). That’s enough to read Tolstoy’s War and Peace (estimated 65 hours, 24 minutes) or watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy almost 5x, or sitting through Wagner’s Ring cycle 6.5x.

Link – via kottke

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Jerse
Sep 14th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
I’ve never seen the traffic in LA – but I’ve always wondered about it. What time do these people leave for work?
Ali S.
Sep 14th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Living in a big city like Toronto I’m glad we don’t have horrendous traffic problems but I still carry a book with me to read on the Subway and on my bus rides around when I commute. My current book is “Che Guevara’s Motorcycle Diaries”.
Adam Stanhope
Sep 15th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
72 hours in a year?

I think they’re missing a couple of zeros.

I commuted into Boston/Cambridge/Waltham, Massachusetts for a number of years. Some quick math reveals that I spent 500+ hours per year stuck in traffic.

Thank god for NPR.

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