Why rush hour traffic is so slow.

I have a theory about why rush hour traffic is so slow: people don't drive their cars.

Yes, it's that simple. Drivers don't drive. Today, on the 10 freeway and the 405 freeway and the 91 freeway it was a sluggish commute. And I know what the reason is:

Drivers were not driving.

The speed limits were 55 or 65 and drivers were doing 45.

Yes, it's a good idea to have some room between you and the car ahead of you. We all learned that in Drivers Ed, but when you are going 45 do you have to leave ten car lengths?

Some of these slow drivers are just slow drivers. Are they driving without insurance... or without a license and are overly cautious? Or do they just not know how to drive?

Some of the slow drivers were driving slowly -- on open freeways -- because they were distracted. I am amazed to see so many drivers looking down at their laps. Why? Because if they aren't texting or reading a text, they have a computer on their laps -- that's why.

If those big traffic tickets for using a cell phone won't stop texting, then maybe we need techology that will block cell phone signals along freeways. That would be a great improvement. Then maybe we'd all reach our destinations faster and wouldn't need to text and make phone calls.