Do you want to spend less time driving? According to a Harvard Medical study, the average American spends 101 minutes behind the wheel each day, which is about 525 hours a year. Life’s short – want to spend it doing something more interesting?… Us too. Here’s how to cut down on your time in the car.
Take fewer left turns
A few years ago, UPS nearly eliminated all left turns from their routes. In one year it saved them 3 million gallons of gas, 30 million miles of driving, and reduced their CO2 emissions by 32,000 metric tons.
On a smaller scale, reducing the amount of left turns on your route can have the same effect. You’ll use less gas, spend less time driving, and reduce your carbon footprint. It’s a win, win, win. All you have to do is plan your route in advance to avoid as many left turns as possible. It’ll be a good exercise for your brain, and a great change of pace for your wallet.
Know the road ahead
If planning your routes seems like too much work, there’s this groovy GPS app called Waze that can help you save on gas, avoid traffic, and even alert you when there are police in your area.
Waze identifies the best route using information supplied by other users in real-time. That means it will adjust your route around traffic, accidents, or construction. It will also show you the cheapest gas prices in your location – essentially combining GasBuddy and Apple/Google maps into one app.
The only problem with this app is that it pulls your attention away from the road. Safety always takes priority, so make good decisions behind the wheel.
The “duh”s
Here goes – this is the advice that people will leave us nasty comments on Facebook for giving:
- Consolidate your trips.
- Know where you’re going before you leave.
- Work from home one day a week (if you’re lucky).
That’s all we’ve got, but maybe you have more! Leave us a comment on Facebook if you can think of more ways to save time while driving.
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