http://www.ft.com/cms/s/eeedfa08-d108-11db-836a-000b5df10621.html
Wasn't it one of Steve Martin's characters (man with two brains?) who couldn't turn left? Well, apparently UPS are following his lead. By cutting out left turns (which are cross-traffic turns in the US) the vans spend less time waiting for traffic to pass, and less time sitting with the engine idling means less fuel... I know, it sounds like those 'shortcuts' you take on the way to work, just because moving beats sitting stationary in traffic, but there must be something in it.
I'm curious about the 'family in Oregon' mentioned in the article, though.
6 comments:
I always wondered if that wouuld work.
I saw a segment on this on TV lately. It works because of the quirk in US traffic laws: in most places, you can make a right turn even when the lights are against you. (Not everywhere - not at all within New York City, or if there is a sign saying you can't; some right turns have their own signals.)
Also, although they all call it a "right turn only" system, it's actually an "as few left turns as possible" system. The instances they cited, the drivers still had a significant number of left-hand turns - maybe 20-40%. I got the impression that the biggest time/energy saving came from simply planning the routes at all.
I don't know about The Man With Two Brains, but Ben Stiller certainly couldn't in Zoolander.
Ah, maybe that was it. Seems a bit too funny for one of Ben Stiller's.
Human performance, superimposed on the traveling salesman problem: Journal of Problem Solving v.1 n.1
[jonthegeologist]'s great aunt and uncle are of advanced age and don't feel very confident on the roads. Rather worryingly, instead of stopping driving, they just made a decision not to do any right turns (which is the traffic-crossing manoevre for us LH drivers). They have therefore redesigned their routes to wherever they need to go.
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