This is the worst I’ve ever seen traffic via any monitoring system and under any conditions. (I’ve been checking on that sort of thing since about 1998.)
But, I didn’t even notice until I got home from work and saw this on my Windows Vista desktop via the traffic widget. Why didn’t I notice? I rode the bus. 
Filed under: Perspective
I rode the metro (into Washington DC) yesterday to a series of interviews. It was positively blissful. I zoned out and relaxed so much in the morning that I almost missed my stop. Acutally I did miss my stop. As luck would have it I took a particular car 12 stops earlier that happened to take the branch I needed, which I otherwise would have had to disembark to transfer. DC traffic normally looks something like your graphic. So it was nice to expereince what I associate with a European lifestyle: no sweating the trip because you are relaxing, reading, or reflecting. Maybe I’ll be doing this every day soon.
Steve~ I too notice how much I like riding the bus. When I don’t ride it, I miss that time, much like you described.