The Effects of Traffic Jam

            Traffic jam is a situation in which vehicles jammed together or otherwise unable to move except slowly. Nowadays, traffic jam is becoming a big problem in many big cities in Indonesia, especially which does not have a good public transportation system. The number of the people in the city is inclined to make a traffic problem as well. People tend to use their own vehicles rather than public transportations which are not satisfying in order to go to schools, to go to work, to go shopping, and so on. In the morning when people start to do their daily life, for example studying, working, or shopping, or when they go back to their houses in the evening, they will make a lot of jams on the road because they use their vehicles at the same time and make the number of vehicles increasing. In addition, there are a lot of illegal parking areas which usually found on the sidewalks is making the jams get worse. Moreover, a lot of people do not pay attention to the rules on the road as well. Those situations are the cause of the traffic jam that will create some effects.

            There are two effects of traffic jam that I want to tell. The first is the effect to the environment. One of the most harmful effects of the traffic jam is the effect to the environment. What I mean in this case is about the pollution that is created by the traffic jam itself. Each vehicles produces emission of carbon that will create air pollution. This is related to global warming that will give more serious problems to the world. Besides contributing to global warming, this emission can cause localized problem such as smog and increased respiratory problems in community, due to the poor air quality.

            The next effect is about the impact to the human. For the human effects, there are several points. The first is about the physical effect because of sound and air pollution. Ailments, common flu, cough, cold to cancer and permanent ailments are experienced. The second point is about the mental effect or in the traffic jam we can say as road rage. Road rage is also a big problem on the road. Road rage is a senseless reaction to traffic that is common in the traffic jam areas. Some people that have a lot of problems will get more stress because of the jam. It also happened to people who are already late to go to somewhere. They want to drive faster and they may not think about others. They may not be able to control their emotions on the road. The drivers may assault others by giving an excessive honking and so on. Moreover, if someone who is impatient may be likely to drive aggressively and dangerously that will cause some accidents on the road. The third point is about the personal lose or the delay. During the morning commute there is an additional stress because the traffic jam can make people late. In the end of the day, the afternoon rush hours is a frustrating time as well. It because the workday is end and most of people want to go home to relax, but the traffic is preventing.

Finally, I conclude that traffic jam is a serious problem in many big cities in Indonesia. This problem can cause some harmful effects as well. The effects of this traffic jam are divided into the effects to the environment and the effects to the human. Dealing with this problem, the government should make an amelioration about the public transportation system to solve the traffic jam problems as well.