We’ve all experienced this, traffic. What should only be a 10-minute drive to work turns into a one hour commute. Where cars should be going at 55 MPH, you’re just parked there. A lot of us blame accidents. There are so many cars on the road an accident is bound to happen. One accident blocks traffic and ruins the day of so many people. Los Angeles has the worst traffic of any city out there. The highway is a parking lot at rush hour. Real horror story, it once took a friend of mine 4 hours just to drive 4 miles. Might as well have just walked.

Well there has been a proposal, toll roads. A section of highway is leased to a private company. The company charges a fee to drive on the road, anywhere from $1 to $10, depending on the time of day or you can buy a monthly pass. Along with the fee you are given many more promises. No traffic, you can drive faster, but the major plus comes with accidents. They always have tow trucks ready. If an accident should happen they’ll be right there within less than a minute and the accident is cleared within a matter of minutes, unlike hours. So instead of being stuck for hours, you’re only stuck for a few minutes. Plus it is also the company’s responsibility to maintain the road. Fill in potholes, clear debris, etc. It is usually done within a matter of days instead of weeks.

To solve traffic problems most cities and states have considered toll roads but several have backed out due to protests. People claim that toll roads are expensive and unfair to people who can’t afford them. Well toll roads are actually a win-win situation whether one can afford it or not.

When a section of highway is leased to a private company it’s not the whole highway, it’s one or two lanes or one particular route. There’s plenty of free highway for people who can’t afford it. Also no one is forcing anyone to take the toll road. How is it not fair that one pays more so one gets better service? We’d all like to be driving around in Mercedes Benz’s, BMWs, Cadillac’s and Jaguars but most of us can’t afford it so we settle for Hondas, Toyotas, Fords, and Chevy’s, same concept as paying for a toll road. On a grand scale, toll roads even benefit people who can’t afford. There are going to be people who are willing to pay a few extra dollars to get wherever they need to be quicker. Those people are now off the free roads. That means fewer cars which leads to fewer accidents and less traffic. In the long run we all win.