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Slowing Down

Interesting benefits to our lives as we crawl out of the pandemic. The ability to choose a home that is not dictated by the short commute during rush hour.

The coronavirus pandemic, however, is no two-week Olympics, no localized earthquake. It has lasted so long that people have discovered new preferences and lost the muscle memory of old routines.

We know that the longer disruption lasts, the more likely it is that long-term changes in society follow, said Giovanni Circella, a transportation researcher at the University of California, Davis. Disruption can also prove more lasting, he said, when it intensifies existing trends than when it creates entirely new ones. And the most notable trend in commuting for the last generation has been the steady rise of telework.

For every single person that does not have to plan their lives around rush hour traffic, there is a benefit to society overall. Lower stress, safer driving, less road-rage, more time to spend will a loved one and the ability to think about whatever matters instead of just doing without pause. Ability to live where one wants to instead of being shoe-horned by drive time at rush hour is just one of many benefits.

 


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