trafficking in wasted oil

Matthew Simmons has pointed out variously and correctly (such as in The End of Suburbia and Twilight in the Desert) that traffic congestion is enemy number one for wasted liquid fuel.

Traffic congestion is public enemy numbers 1 through 8 on passenger car fuel efficiency. And so we can have all of these Priuses and hybrids, don't get me wrong they are great. I drive a fabulous new Diesel Mercedes and I get, on the open road, as long as there is no traffic, I can get almost 50 miles to the gallon. But when I am in stop-and-go traffic I get between 5-11 miles to the gallon.

Ponder this nugget of wisdom while staring at this cool web simulator, which I spotted on Cascadia Scorecard --



You know, I think I've lived through that Jam before.