The Polk Blog

Traffic. Me. Ugh.

Like most people, I believe time is a precious commodity. Very precious indeed. And if I can save a minute or two here or there, I'll do it in a heartbeat – especially when it comes to beating the ever-present traffic jam.

I live in southeastern Michigan and my daily commute is around 100 miles round-trip. Certainly not a really long daily commute compared to many, but certainly a bit longer than the average drive. And nothing frustrates me more than to be stuck in traffic. Especially in the summer-time, when it's say 90 degrees or so and muggy outside. Add in the fact that it's a Friday, a Friday before a long holiday weekend and I'll do just about anything to get home on-time. Maybe it's just me, but have you ever noticed how the Friday before a long holiday weekend seems to bring out certain crazies on the road who will eventually wind-up in a traffic incident? Lucky us.  

Sure, I try to do my homework before I leave in the early morning and again in the late afternoon or early evening before I head home. I check the traffic reports on radio or television if they are available. I even check the skies and carefully listen for the rumble of a traffic helicopter nearby. Show me a traffic helicopter circling in the area and you'll see me headed in the opposite direction. And quickly.

But the techniques I've used in the past are probably considered "old school" to say the least. Lately, I've been using 'Beat the Traffic', an iPad app that shows traffic conditions around major cities. I really like the look and feel of it and how it shows the roadwork, incidents and highway speeds on the local expressways in the Detroit area. It works well for me and I especially like the forecast feature. I'd like to see something similar become an optional telematic feature in an average priced vehicle. Hopefully one day the OEMs will make this happen.

My colleague, Cenk Hepaktan, has blogged about telematic features. Be sure to check them out, but in the meantime, help me understand, how do you beat the traffic?