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Driving Green: Add Real-Time Traffic to Nav System, Save 4 Days a Year

 
1 1,742 views August 31, 2009

Traffic

Traffic

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How would you like to save four days' worth of driving every year?

According to a study by Navteq, which provides digital map, traffic, and location data, you can do that simply adding real-time traffic information to a navigation system that you use for every trip.

Their findings show that adding traffic data to nav systems cut average driving time by 18 percent versus trips made by drivers without nav systems.

The study used German drivers in Dusseldorf and Munich who hadn't previously owned a navigation device. It encompassed more than 2,100 separate trips over 12,000 miles, and almost 500 hours behind the wheel, all of it logged electronically.

Adding up that time savings over a year's worth of trips produced a total savings of four days when adjusted for US trip patterns.  It also improved gas mileage and reduced total carbon emissions by 21 perent, or almost a ton per driver.

Now, it's worth keeping in mind that Navteq sells the data that the study proves to be so useful. Still, the conclusion seems to make sense on a gut level: Avoid traffic jams where your engine has to idle or your car has to crawl, and you'll save both time and gasoline.

Navigon 2150 Max traffic-enabled satnav

Navigon 2150 Max traffic-enabled satnav

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[Navteq via AutoblogGreen]





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Comment (1)

  1. By Burt Posted: 9/1/2009 10:14am PDT

    As Americans, we're always searching for the quick fix...the big idea....the magic bullet that's going to solve the problem. Of course the big ideas are worth pursuing, but what we tend to forget is that there are lots of small things we can do to save energy and time...and perhaps taken together they can add up to something significant: rotaries at intersections instead of stoplights; EZ pass at the toll booth instead of waiting in line to hand over 50 cents; proper tire inflation; and maybe a nav system with real-time traffic.
     
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