What do cops do when traffic is bad?
I’ve seen cops stuck in traffic jams frequently in Chicago. However, it being part of their job to be available for emergency calls, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were wise to the predictable traffic jams and knew to avoid them. Since they’re everywhere, one cop sitting there ticketing people can notice a traffic jam and let the entire department know to avoid the Dan Ryan Expressway (or whatever).
Going off from aubilenon‘s comment, most of the traffic jams I see are concentrated around cops sitting at the side of the road, doing whatever. People cruising happily along at 75mph suddenly feel the need to mash the brake pedal when they see a cop (like it would do them any good), then proceed at 5mph below the speed limit. Causes major slowdowns. I bet the cops know that, and try to stay out of sight to avoid provoking the foot-jerk response and its aftermath.
