I was sitting in traffic today in Jerusalem.

Traffic on the other side of the street had built up and there was no room to cut across Herzl anymore. Or let me rephrase that, there was room to cut across, but you couldn't go any further into the street on the other side, so the cars ended up blocking Herzl Blvd.

And of course then comes the light rail. While the train had the green light (or the funny GO symbol, I didn't look at his particular traffic light), the train couldn't move forward because of the cars sitting perpendicular in his lane.

It always amazes me how drivers need to cut across, just because the light is green (or was just green), without concern towards the gridlock they will be causing.

Meanwhile, the train driver was trying to inch forward past his traffic light before it changed colors too, without hitting the car sitting directly ahead of him on the tracks.

Needless to say, the lights changed.

In the end it was a time-consuming mess that would probably never have happened if Israelis cared about gridlock in the first place.

(On my way back, so guy stopped, parked his car halfway into the street and left his car to talk to his friends on the sidewalk, leaving a lane and half for 2 way traffic and absolutely no concern for the honking horns).