I drive a LOT for my job, and I listen to a LOT of audiobooks, podcasts, comedy specials, etc. Also music.

And occasionally I find heavy traffic to be distracting from an audiobook, but 90% of the kind of driving where you'd need an audiobook is long distance highway driving, not rush hour traffic, so it isn't an issue. Besides, people listen to the radio all the time, so what's the difference?

I took a train instead of driving once, and I won't do that again. It essentially took the same amount of time, but it was so boring. I couldn't stop when I wanted, eat what I wanted (Amtrak food is terrible), etc. And it cost about the same as fuel costs for driving anyway.