Last Monday while Coppell students were driving to their first day of school and trying to get the best parking spot possible to avoid after school traffic, thousands of vehicles in Beijing, China were stuck in a 62 mile traffic jam predicted to last up to three weeks.

When I was thinking about how a traffic jam like that even forms something was brought to my attention…Dallas drivers would never get in this kind of predicament. We have mastered several tactics in order to avoid traffic jams of this nature. We will either…

1. Go through the median
2. Drive on the shoulder of the road
3. Take a completely ridiculous route just to avoid it
4. Plan our driving schedule around heavy traffic hours

And if all else fails, we will just stay home.

Drivers in China are forced to spend the night in their cars trying to waste away time by playing cards and switching drivers every few hours. There are over 400 police officers helping control the traffic flow and preventing road raged drivers from acting out. All I can say is next time you’re stuck in after school traffic…just remember, it could always be much worse.