This note appeared in the New York Times on December 9,2007.
It seems that sitting in the left lane, engine idling, waiting for oncoming traffic to clear so you can make a left-hand turn, is minutely wasteful — of time and peace of mind, for sure, but also of gas and therefore money. Not a ton of gas and money if we’re talking about just you and your Windstar, say, but immensely wasteful if we’re talking about more than 95,000 big square brown trucks delivering packages every day. And this realization — that when you operate a gigantic fleet of vehicles, tiny improvements in the efficiency of each one will translate to huge savings overall — is what led U.P.S. to limit further the number of left-hand turns its drivers make.
The company employs what it calls a “package flow” software program, which among other hyperefficient practices involving the packing and sorting of its cargo, maps out routes for every one of its drivers, drastically reducing the number of left-hand turns they make (taking into consideration, of course, those instances where not to make the left-hand turn would result in a ridiculously circuitous route).
Last year, according to Heather Robinson, a U.P.S. spokeswoman, the software helped the company shave 28.5 million miles off its delivery routes, which has resulted in savings of roughly three million gallons of gas and has reduced CO2 emissions by 31,000 metric tons. So what can Brown do for you? We can’t speak to how good or bad they are in the parcel-delivery world, but they won’t be clogging up the left-hand lane while they do their business.
Hmmm. As a “born again driver” (as my sister calls me since I have started driving again after a 7 year hiatus), I am still a little squeamish about making left hand turns. It’s really the only thing that will make me panicky in a car anymore now that I am over the fact that a) I am no longer on the subway and b) I can see where I’m going, like it or not.
Should I go? Is there enough time? Should I just wait for the yellow? Will there be an advanced green? Why is the guy behind me so impatient?
Now I’m just gonna say that I’m saving the environment.
One left turn at a time.
