Brown says, “No Left Turns”
How much gas money would you save if you didn’t have to make a lot of left turns?
UPS, the delivery people, decided to re-structure the delivery routes taken by drivers to eliminate as many left turns as possible. Now that may sound weird, but how long have you sat in a left turn lane waiting for oncoming traffic to pass, and how many times have you dreaded crossing into oncoming traffic?
The results have been dramatic. UPS says its 95,000 vehicles shaved nearly 30 million miles off its deliveries in 2007, saving the cost of 3 million gallons of gasoline and reducing truck emissions by 32,000 metric tons.
Makes sense to me. Sally and I both plan our drives with right-hand turns in mind, rarely adding an inch to the overall length of the drive, and feeling a lot safer.
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In the UK we have lots of roundabouts which pretty much eliminates the problem anyway.
Maybe it’s just me.. but how does idling at an intersection waiting for traffic to pass “shave off nearly 30 million miles” of travel?
I can understand it saving time, but how does it save mileage if you’re NOT MOVING?!? Maybe I’m just missing something, haha. I’m only half paying attention at work.
nascar drivers turn left
Been driving for UPS for 4 year and the only people I ever hear this from is customers. The system that sets up our deliveries in the morning usually doesn’t remove left turns.
I work just north of San Francisco. If you work in the big city I can certainly understand the policy.
Yet another reason for the adoption of roundabouts!! Not only are roundabouts proven to be safer (see NHTSA tests converting some of the nations’ more fatal intersections into roundabouts), but as traffic is constantly flowing, cars are not sitting idle waiting to turn left.
Not everyone drives on the wrong side of the road.