As labor day is approaching on 7th September, people will be pouring out on streets specially on automobiles. Most likely they are going to end up in a situation where horns are blowing and tempers are flaring, leaving you wondering why you had to leave home in the first place.
Labor Day Weekend to Be Third Busiest of the Decade
It is estimated that about 13 percent fewer Americans will travel this weekend as compared to last Labor Day weekend. About 39.1 million total travelers will head out of town, roughly 32.9 million by car. These numbers are estimated by American Automobile Association as gas prices are lower this year.
Fret not because technology is here to rescue you in this situation along with few common tips.
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Chose destinations wisely
As a general rule most population will be heading towards popular summer destinations in the area such as lakes and beaches, you may want to head towards relatively less occupied areas such as restaurants, movie theaters etc. Traffic is usually going to be high in metropolitan areas so keep this point in mind as well. Additionally visit http://triptrik.navteq.com for planning trips.
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Shifting Weekends can make a difference
Fridays and Mondays evenings are observed to be worst in term of traffic jams. You can avoid the dense traffic jams by avoiding travelling on these days.
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Gather latest traffic information about the route you are taking.
This is very important as one of the major causes of traffic jams are accidents and road constructions, because of current stimulus wave in US road constructions are frequent. Figure our a route where there are no traffic accidents and construction going on. This information is available at department of transportation and AAA’s online site.
Other useful sites are : http://m.traffic.com for mobile devices -
Timing makes a difference
Travelling in early morning and late at night can help you avoid traffic jams as usually people avoid travelling at these times. Make sure you are well rested before heading out.
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Traffic monitoring on the go using gadgets and technologyIdeally if you have a GPS navigation system available in your car you will be able to navigate and see the route’s traffic situation. However, if you don’t have that then mobile devices such as iPhone, Blackberry and Nokia phones can be useful. You can use Google map software on your mobile device which offers a free feature of monitoring traffic conditions using color coding on maps.
Google collects anonymously transmitted data from Google maps about vehicle speeds and aggregates this data to calculate average speeds for different roads for live traffic conditions which then is available in Google maps.
There are other websites and services made available by states which provide traffic information, 511 service provides information on phone and there are also services which send text messages for update on traffic as subscriber drive. -
GPS device usage for navigation in unchartered territory
GPS navigation devices provide maps, directions, route identification, traffic conditions, accidents, delays and even turn by turn directions making the process of finding a place a lot easier. Megellan, Garmin and TomTom offers such devices with services.
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Avoid accidents with caution and adjusting driving patterns
Incautious or fast driving in Jam packed traffic can be a recipe of disaster, similarly losing temper in slow traffic is also going to get you in trouble. So if you are caught in traffic trying act coolly to avoid further problems. Additionally different communities and localities have their own driving patterns, extra cautious driving with driving pattern adjustment can help local people to avoid traffic accidents.
Happy traveling on labor day.
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Article by Muzzammil Waheed
Founder of BiGGTech.com, tech enthusiast, develops in Microsoft technologies with interests in technology, science and gadgets