Annual study shows traffic congestion worsening in cities large and small
COLLEGE STATION, TX — Traffic congestion continues to worsen in American cities of all sizes, creating a $78 billion annual drain on the U.S. economy in the form of 4.2 billion lost hours and 2.9 billion gallons of wasted fuel—that’s 105 million weeks of vacation and 58 fully-loaded supertankers.
These are among the key findings of the Texas Transportation Institute’s 2007 Urban Mobility Report. Improvements to the methodology used to measure congestion nationwide have produced the most detailed picture yet of a problem that is growing worse in all 437 of the nation’s urban areas. The current report is based on 2005 figures, the most recent year for which complete data was available.
“There is no ‘magic’ technology or solution on the horizon because there is no single cause of congestion,” noted study co-author Tim Lomax, a research engineer at TTI. “The good news is that there are multiple strategies involving traffic operations and public transit available right now that if applied together, can lessen this problem.”
The 2007 mobility report notes that congestion causes the average peak period traveler to spend an extra 38 hours of travel time and consume an additional 26 gallons of fuel, amounting to a cost of $710 per traveler. Along with expanding the estimates of the effect of congestion to all 437 U.S. urban areas, the study provides detailed information for 85 specific urban areas. The report also focuses on the problems presented by “irregular events”—crashes, stalled vehicles, work zones, weather problems and special events—that cause unreliable travel times and contribute significantly to the overall congestion problem. Worsening congestion, the study notes, is reflected in several ways:
Trips take longer
Congestion affects more of the day
Congestion affects weekend travel and rural areas
Congestion affects more personal trips and freight shipments
Trip travel times increasingly are unreliable
Researchers spent two years revising the methodology using additional sources of traffic information, providing more—and higher quality—data on which to base the current study.
The report identifies multiple solutions to the congestion problem that, researchers say, must be used together to be effective. These include:
Get as much service as possible from existing infrastructure
Add road and transit system capacity in critical corridors
Relieve chokepoints
Change usage patterns
Provide choices
Diversify the development patterns
Keep expectations realistic
“Congestion is a far more complex problem than is apparent at first glance,” Lomax said. “The better the data we use to define the problem, the more successful we will be in addressing its root causes.”
Camera-based safety systems and other automotive digital camera systems are fueling record growth in the market segment, growth that is expected to top $100 million in sales by 2012, ABI Research reports.
“Acknowledgment of the inherent flaws in human beings has led automobile manufacturers and suppliers to develop new technologies that can save drivers from themselves,” says Principal Analyst David Alexander. “Systems that can analyze road situations and provide additional warnings to drivers have started to appear in newer car models, and the camera is at the heart of many of them.”
As technology improves, the systems will move into a far larger role in everyday driving, ABI contends, with early proliferation primarily as a recording device to capture the state of the vehicle during a wreck, followed by advanced systems that help drivers identify road hazards and avoid them.
“Having the car look out for other vehicles and track the road ahead is one major area of current development,” adds Alexander, “but watching the driver and passengers is another very important camera-based application that is beginning to emerge.” Occupant detection and monitoring allows smart automobiles to customize airbag deployment to the size and position of the passengers. As this technology advances there will be additional safety and comfort capabilities added.
ABI’s full report, Camera-Based Automotive Systems, is available now.
Harris Interactive has released a new technology research study outlining Americans use of GPS technology and showing that while penetration remains low, interest is steadily growing.
According to the report, only one in six (17 percent) U.S. adults currently own or use a GPS-based device or service. Among GPS owners, the most widely used devices were small handheld systems (34 percent) and portable car-mounted GPS systems (33 percent). Other systems used include GPS-enabled PDAs or laptop computers (26 percent), cars with integrated GPS systems (25 percent), cell phones (13 percent) and other (seven percent).
“Despite advances in the technology, improvements in usability, dependability and falling prices, overall penetration remains relatively low for GPS services,” says Milton Ellis, Vice President of Technology Research, Harris Interactive. “GPS providers may be able to increase adoption rates by promoting popular features of GPS systems, targeting users of online mapping services and increasing awareness of real-time automatic route recalculations and traffic reports available on many dedicated GPS devices.”
Among the features that GPS owners use most frequently are automatic route recalculation for driving errors and real-time traffic update. However, added features in so-called all-in-one GPS devices, such as portable audio player functionality and video playback, are not widely utilized by consumers, Harris reports, a substantial majority of survey respondents (69 percent) calling digital music capability on a GPS is not very useful or not at all useful.
If you use a GPS gadget during your commute, please share your experience and recommendations.
OK folks. I started developing this web site years ago as a way to bring great information and opportunities to commuters. I’ve developed some interesting information resources, like the Commuter Profile, Lunch Finder and my Free Audiobook Newsletter. It’s time to deliver some more opportunity to my fellow commuters. I have purchased a $50 Shell Gift Card and I will be randomly selecting one lucky winner from my list of registered members. It’s easy to register, just complete your commuter profile (to get some eye-opening info about your commute) and then complete the simple registration form. I hope this is the start of many great offers for commuters. Welcome to Longcommute.com - The Commuter’s Community.
I recently embarked on a road sign marketing mission at the Dell Computer Campus in Round Rock, Texas. It was a success. All signs were placed in perfect position to be viewed by the thousands of cars coming and going through the campus everyday. The signs started working immediately with users checking out their commuter profiles and signing up for the Free Audiobook alert.
Yahoo! Autos will attempt to set a land speed record with a grease-powered diesel automobile on Sunday, November 12, 2006 at the El Mirage Dry Lake Bed near Victorville, Ca. Yahoo! will be attempting to get the Greasel car up to speeds of 160-200mph. Ever heard of Greasel? Makes me think of a couple kids from high school, but in fact, it is an alternative fuel made from Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO) that can be used in diesel engines. Basically, it’s the dirty frying oil from fast food restaurants like Mc Donalds, Burger King, Wendy’s, etc. Now, there is some type of filtering process to prepare this new fuel for your drive so you’re not shooting overcooked mini-hashbrowns out of your exhaust pipe.
Here’s my concern…ever heard of the research that uses different scents to effect moods and other responses? Bake an apple pie when selling your house, relieve tension with lavender, arouse the opposite sex with…farts…no, but that sure would make things easier. Anyway, my point is…can you imagine driving to work and smelling…ummmm french fries…..ummmm KFC……uhhh fish and chips….pass on the left. I don’t know how this stuff smells, but if it smells like fast food I wouldn’t be surpised if every happy meal comes with a free gallon of french fry sludge. When you get to work craving a bucket of chicken every morning, it could be that earth-conscious greasel guzzler ahead of you.
So if this alternative fuel makes it to the masses, I’ll be starting a new diet plan for commuters called, the Nose Plug.
Drive safe, save the environement, don’t eat too much fast food.
I just learned about a company called RevoPower (www.revopower.com) that is working on bringing an interesting invention to market. It’s a motorized wheel. Not a motorized bicycle, but a motorized wheel that can replace the front tire on any adult bicycle…how clever. “The Wheel” from RevoPower uses a quiet, gas-powered clean-burning engine to give you the ability to travel at speeds up to 20 MPH without breaking a sweat. At about $400 (shipping in 2007) and delivering more than 200 MPG, this is something worth serious consideration for thousands of commuters. Since it’s motorized, you don’t have to worry about smelling like B.O. when you arrive at the office.
Now, as cool as I think this is, I do think the profile of the ideal user needs to be somewhat specific to make this a perfect match. First of all, the distance you travel…I would guess that 10-15 miles would be the maximum distance you’d want to ride each way. Check your commuter profile at www.longcommute.com. Next, weather! Rain, snow, frost-bite, etc. will interface with a nice bike ride to work…motorized or otherwise. Lastly, is your commute route a safe bike ride? I can vividly remember the one and only time I tried riding my bike to work, not more than 2 miles down the road. In that short stretch of road, there were so many intersections, driveways and strip malls, I found it quite intimidating to compete with all the cars and SUVs that were rushing around, getting their coffee and getting to work. And this was before every single driver spent their morning on the cell phone. So, make sure you find a safe route to make your bike ride a safe and enjoyable one.
If you’ve used “The Wheel” or something similar, let us know what you think by sharing your comments.
I recently read a story of a fellow commuter that purchased a device that would change traffic lights to green as he approached…kinda like they do for ambulances, fire trucks, etc. Turns out he purchased the same device (called an Opticom, it’s basically a strobe light) used on those vehicles for about $100 bucks on eBay. After 2 years of being the “Bruce Almighty” commuter, he was finally caught and issued a $50 ticket…not too shabby. The city of Longmont, CO was wondering why the flow of traffic was always being disrupted around 7:40am…ya see, changing his light to green caused the intersecting traffic pattern to get out of sync causing traffic jams for the mere mortal commuters.
Yeah, this was pretty ignorant and inconsiderate, but I have to imagine that it was a great feeling to sail through every light on the way to work. Now who wouldn’t want this on those days when you’re running late and seem to be hitting every red light on the way in?
This event prompted the city of Longmont, CO to upgrade all of their traffic lights to a new Opticom system that uses a special pattern of light pulses instead of the current 14 pulses per second in the current system. It’s a matter of time before the next generation of this device is on eBay. Just be warned, it’s illegal to use an Opticom for getting to work on time…you may not be as lucky a this guy by only escaping with a $50 fine.
Instead of rushing to work and hoping for green lights, try listening to a good audiobook. Chances are you’ll enjoy the extra time in the car when engaged in a great story. If you know of some great audiobooks, please share a recommendation here. If you haven’t read The Da Vinci Code, it’s a timely topic of conversation and a great audiobook. The Harry Potter series with it’s creative writing and awesome narration by Jim Dale provides weeks of entertaining commutes.
No, I’m not talking about saving your family from that bean burrito you just polished off. There is a Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) scheme out there promising to improve your gas mileage just by popping a pill into your gas tank. Now, the thought of popping a pill into your tank and magically getting better gas mileage is appealing, I admit. I can imagine how some people are falling for this too…after all, gas prices are straining our wallets and let’s face it, these days we are more open-minded about the power of a single pill…thanks to Viagra and company. The more obvious problem here is that if it requires MLM, it’s not likely to do a darn bit of good. If you’re commuting a bunch of miles every week, you might be looking for ways of improving your MPG or lowering you gas costs…this is not one of them. For more information on the gas pill and other bogus mileage improving schemes, check out the information on the FTC web site: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/gasalrt.htm.
Instead of looking for the miracle pill for your gas tank, make sure to check your commuter profile at http://www.longcommute.com/. From there you can get a better idea of your commuting costs and evaluate your options.
Do you have any experience with gas mileage scams or some great commuter tips? Let us know.
