Sunday, April 8, 2012

Traffic is like bloodflow

Ok I'm not sure how everyone's going to feel about this but I feel like it makes sense to me so hear me out.

Imagine the world was our body, and the roadways were like arteries and veins.  Cars, trucks and motorcycles are like blood platelets moving down the roadways of our bodies.  Now let me ask you which kind of platelet would you want to be? A big heavy platelet that's going to get stuck around every artery or a slippery little platelet that slides through any opening it can find?


This is kind of the way traffic works just about anywhere you go.  Say some kind of accident happens --represented by the thrombus in the lower picture--  then traffic starts to back up and all of the large platelets start to get caught by the traffic.  Soon before you know it, the only things that are making it through the traffic are extremely small platelets.

 These small platelets "motorcycles" can move through traffic with ease and allow riders to get to their destination on time.  Just like platelets, or red blood cells, also have a destination. As an example, to help with gas exchange so red blood cells have to make it to the lungs to release Co2 and get re-oxygenated with fresh 02.

If we as people had nothing but blocked arteries and veins, simple things like gas exchange and other functions of daily living would be greatly effected so this is why many of us pay attention to our health.  We exercise to help clear any roadways of traffic and allow these platelets (cars and motorcycles etc.)


One way of reducing traffic and increasing flow is by having more motorcycles, giving the roadways more room for travel.  By exchanging large cars for motorcycles we are thinning the blood allowing for better traffic flow.

I don't know about you but I'd sure like to be the slippery little platelet that gets to his/her destination with relative ease.

Johnny 5 -

1 comment:

  1. great analogy. I always shake my first when I see a motorcycle flow through traffic with ease. I just find motorcycles a safety hazard and not the greatest with transportation. I can see myself going grocery shopping with a motorcycle or going to give my brother and his friends a ride. I mean only benefit I see is people will avoid asking me for lift and helping them move out.

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