The Walking Dead, Survival Rule Of The Week: What to avoid

3) Traffic Jams

If you have never lived near a major city, or never driven through one, you may not truly understand just how bad traffic in and around one can really be. I’ve sat in traffic for something like two and a half hours just to try to get through New York. During The Big Dig, I remember traffic backed up all the way to my house…three miles behind the highway on-ramp. Traffic was so bad in Boston at the time that there was even a traffic jam for the on-ramp, never mind the highway itself.

My point? This is typical for most major cities. The bigger they are — Or, the more poorly designed — the longer you’re not moving, and, the more congested the roads leading into those cities are going to be. In a zombie apocalypse, this can turn an issue into a full-blown catastrophe.

Imagine for a minute that you’re sitting in your car, miles back from the limits of your nearest city, not having moved more than a yard in hours, cars in front and behind you, and suddenly…a herd of zombies arrive.

What do you do? Honestly…I’m not sure.

I imagine that, if you moved, or made any sounds as the zombies approached, you would be screwed. The zombies would either break into your car, or simply wait you out. My best advice would be to sit still and stay quiet, and hope that someone other poor schlub distracted them enough to give you time to escape.

How to avoid it?

Simple: Don’t go on the highway, or, at least, not on a section of the highway anywhere near a major city, that is.

Now, while this is simple, that doesn’t, necessarily, make it easy. My house is just ten miles outside of Boston, if there was a zombie apocalypse, chances are the traffic would be even worse than during The Big Dig, with it likely being backed up all the way to the next town, if not the next city, some five miles south. I probably wouldn’t be able to avoid the traffic if I headed toward Boston, and might still run into more trying to navigate away from the city, as the traffic heading to it blocks intersections. That said, whether you’re in the shadow of a city or not, you have a far better chance of avoiding a scenario like the one I laid out if you steer clear of any highways leading into whatever city is closest to you.

P.S. Situations like this are where having a map, can come in really handy.