There has been a bit of talk about Auckland's traffic in recent weeks, and I've noticed that things have got so bad that every time there's a crash or major delay, it makes the news.

The Herald has even been running a series on it lately: 1, 2, 3 just this week.

Going by the fact that delays today and two days ago drew enough interest to make the news, I'm going to presume yesterday's traffic was nothing special. There were no crashes, no warnings, just the usual Auckland Southern Motorway.

I left home at 8:00 am for a Mediation in Queen St at 9:30. Loads of time for a trip that measures a whole 19 km, as noted on this map:

When I reached the motorway time indicator at the ET junction, it said that Nelson St was expected to take 72 minutes*.

Seventy-two minutes: almost an hour and a quarter to travel 19 bloody kilometres! That is a speed of 15.8 km/hour.

Let's compare that to a few other speeds.

A marathon runner covers 42 km in a fraction over two hours, so any decent marathon runner would have had quarter of an hour left over to take a shower and have a cuppa while the commuters crawl along. Travelling at 15.8 km/hour covers 263 metres every minute, which is 22 seconds for 100m, slightly slower than a really athletic six year old can sprint it. Clearly, you'd be faster getting your kids to carry you. Usain Bolt - if he could keep a 10-second/100m pace up for 15.8 km - would be at work in a tick over half an hour.

And if you don't mind Usain Bolt and Kenyan marathon runners passing you, be aware that the Yusuke Suzuki will be right up your arse the entire way.

Walking.

Now, what else could you be doing for 72 minutes?

How about watching a man unpack a drone for 72 minutes? (Yes, there is a YouTube of that!) Maybe 72 minutes of listening pleasure? You can watch to 72 minutes of Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed right here. Or, you could just while away the whole 1.2 hours watching the time run down. It's not like you need to watch the traffic. Here's a good one - you have enough time to watch the longest movie trailer of all time, conveniently exactly 72 minutes long! The movie itself - which lasts 30 entire days - will be great for the rest of the year once it's released.

One thing you may not aware of is that 72 minutes is an important piece of time in Jewish theology, being the exact amount of time after sunset that evening becomes night.

If you're unlucky (or stupid) enough to be taking over two hours a day commuting, did you realise what that means over a 40-year working career?

20,000 hours - 2.25 years. Two and a quarter years of your life has been spent in a car travelling to and from work. In work hours, a standard 40-hour week is 2000 hours a year, so the travel is 2.25 years in waking time, but the equivalent of ten extra years of work.

Enjoy your drive!

*Nope, it didn't take me anything like an hour twelve. I used a combination of side streets and Great South Road and had a lovely trip that took about 40 minutes.

 

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