If it feels like you are spending more time stuck in traffic, it’s probably because you are. Recent studies by the US Census Bureau estimate that US drivers spend 27 minutes driving to work, an increase of 10% from 2000.
That’s nearly half an hour each way, twice a day (assuming you go home after work), five times a week every year. No wonder it feels like we spend so much time in our cars. We do.
And that’s just the average. If you live in LA, NYC, San Francisco or Atlanta, expect those times to be even longer. Those cities all rank in the top 10 most congested cities in the world, according to the Inrix Global Traffic Scorecard.
I happen to live in LA, and yes, the traffic is really as bad as you are led to believe. A three mile drive to school can sometimes take 45 minutes. And you may as well forget about taking the 405 anywhere in the morning. If it’s raining, you’re almost better off staying home.
We’ve all got places to get. School to drop off, work, school to pick up, kids activities – and often at the same time. How does a busy parent of the Teens (and teens) navigate the gridlock and try to get where they need to go while retaining some sanity?
These days, more and more, the answer seems to be navigation apps such as Waze, Apple Maps, TomTom and Garvin.
Going My Waze?
According to some estimates, Waze alone has over 100 million monthly logged-in users. It’s safe to say that most people use some navigation app, especially in more urban areas where traffic users are worst. Most people I know use one and faithfully follow whatever route their preferred nav app deems quickest, with little thought about where it is taking them. Sort of like a digital-age traffic Svengali.
My wife is an avowed Waze-r and uses it as a de facto co-pilot everywhere she goes. Conversely, I use a variety of navigation apps, but don’t necessarily follow the suggestions of any. Driving around town is sometimes interesting as she and I often go rounds over whether or not to follow nav app advice.
“Why bother to use the app if you’re not going to follow it?” is her standard question to me. And it’s a valid one. Maybe it’s the modern equivalent of the male genetic predisposition to not ask someone for directions.
She, on the other hand, will adhere to whatever route is suggested by a nav app. Get off the freeway and take local roads? Sure. Avoid a local road and snake through neighborhoods? Why not? Neighborhood street clogged by a kid on a bike, so just drive through this guys’ driveway? Sounds good,
Unless I know for certain that there is something blocking traffic ahead and I can shave a meaningful amount of time of my drive, I’m not necessarily taking a nav apps’ advice. I don’t see the logic in driving 2 miles out of my way in order to save one minute on my drive. Not to mention the adverse impact on neighborhood traffic due to apps rerouting me and everyone else.
Not Worth It
One morning last week while driving my daughter to school, I decided to try an experiment. At her urging, I abandoned the most direct, but also very congested, route that we were on in favor of the alternative route suggested by my nav system.
The suggested route would meet back up with my current route 0.6 miles down the road. However, it would take me 1.5 miles on twisting, turning, narrow hillside streets through a neighborhood to get there. But hey, it offered the opportunity to shave a couple minutes off my current routes’ estimated time. Challenge accepted!
Before diverting to the alt-route, I made note of the time and the car I was driving behind (just in cases) and set off.
Yes, there was less traffic versus the main road, but I was definitely not the only driver under the nav influence (nav-fluence?), so it wasn’t completely devoid of traffic. As I approached the point of convergence with my original route, I noted that I indeed saved maybe up to two minutes off my original estimated time.
Once back to the main road, a very nice driver paused traffic long enough for me enter the flow. As I pulled out, I realized the car letting me pull out in front of it was none other than the car I was behind when I diverted my route. In the end, I drove an extra mile, added traffic to roads clearly not built to support the volume sent their way, and ended up one car-length better for it.
Obviously, this is a small sample size. For me, though, it reinforced the notion that sometimes the alt-route juice isn’t worth the driving squeeze.
Unintended Consequences
It is said the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.
The underlying intent of traffic navigation apps – reducing drive time and frustration from sitting in unending traffic – is admirable. However, in order to achieve this, they often redirect traffic through areas often not meant to support the volume.
My neighborhood happens to be a prime alternative route to avoid one of the busiest freeway intersections in LA. It’s not uncommon for me to be unable to back out of my driveway in the morning due to commuters using my neighborhood as a short cut.
The situation has become so bad, our local city council has recently restricted access to a number of streets during rush hours. The roads simply were not built to support the volume of cars they were now seeing. The culprit, as described in the city council study, was navigation apps.
Unfortunately, the volume of cars hasn’t decreased, just the number of streets that are now accessible to them. As a result, the traffic is all being funneled onto just a small handful of side streets, often making them little more than parking lots.
The good-intentioned apps have definitely paved some roads to Hell.
Useful in Different Waze
I guess I’ve just decided that driving miles out of my way and clogging up neighborhoods so that I can save a minute or two on my drive isn’t worth it. Either that, or I’m just stubborn. That’s my wife’s take.
Don’t get me wrong, nav apps in general, and Waze, in particular, definitely have their useful moments.
We’ve all been at a standstill on a highway, look over at an empty country road running parallel with the highway and wonder “Why didn’t I get on that road at the last exit?”. That’s a Waze moment.
I will often check out Waze before I leave home to compare routes. If they are all within a couple minutes of each other, I take the highest capacity route, not necessarily the quickest. At least I can make an informed choice and know what I’m up against. If it works against me, that’s on me.
And my wife will definitely let me know it.
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