Yesterday I drove to an event in Geneva and I parked at the P&R étoile. I went by car for a simple reason. I wanted the trip home to be fast and efficient. It worked. What wasn’t fast and efficient was the drive into Geneva.
I left with at least one and a half hours of time to get to my destination but got to the event with just three minutes to spare. The journey time that takes half an hour out of peak traffic takes one hour or more during rush hour.
This weekend I could have gone to Bellevaux for the VF, Thones for the VF, Kandersteg for the VF, and gone to Charmey, Rocher de Naye and one other places for hikes and climbing. I chose to do none of these things. My reason for this is to save money on petrol, after driving quite a bit last week but also to recharge.
Last week I went for a hike and thought “I wish I had not gone”, until the end, when I was sad that the day was over. I wish one person had stayed longer, for a chance to talk.
I just spent over an hour driving between Morges and Nyon because someone crashed his car, and everyone else is rushing home, or away because the holidays are beginning. I bring this up because the friends of Global Warming want to expand the A1 between Nyon and Geneva, to allow for fluid traffic.
The traffic jam I encountered is between Morges and Nyon so to expand between Geneva and Nyon would do nothing to alleviate this problem. There was a time, when I was younger, and more optimistic, when I loved the idea of the motorway being expanded, but now I think it’s too late. It should have been done two or three decades ago. If it is done in six years it will create awful traffic jams for 10-20 years, and by the time it’s ready for use traffic will have doubled again.
For a long time I thought that driving would give me freedom. I was impatient to be old enough to drive, and then I was impatient to pass my driving test. I failed the theory three times in Switzerland, zero in England, and the practical in England once, and once in Switzerland. Eventually I did pass my driving test in England, on Valentine’s day. I then drove to see the girlfriend of the time.