School holidays

Not having the dubious pleasure of having offspring, the every-few-monthly ritual of school holidays affects millions of people the world over. No doubt, everyone experiences the same phenomena.

The number of total people in a population is relatively stable, providing an unexpected plague doesn't hit. People are born and people die. This said, the number of parents and children remains steady. When school is on, traffic is a nightmare. Jams, jams and more jams.

However, come school holidays, the road to work is paved with gold. No traffic jams; no having to get up before the birds to beat the traffic; no getting home after the owls have gone to sleep to miss the traffic.

Yet - and here's the quandary - despite this, the number of people at work remains the same - and people arrive and leave at more or less the same time. If this is true, then why is traffic worse when the kids are at school? And I'm not talking about schools on every road causing jams - just your regular everyday freeway/highway.

It's as if road logic somehow uses an alternate reality during school term. People travel back and forth faster and more randomly when children are present. Or cars split into four, occupying the space of four and lack of driving ability of four while maintaining the illusion of one.

During school term, sitting in the jam - it's all working people. No kids bouncing around in the back on the way to school. During school holidays, it's all working people. No kids bouncing around in the back on the way to the beach.

What the fuck?