Can simply avoiding left turns while driving significantly reduce one’s environmental impact? After all, each left turn requires additional idling at intersections while waiting to make the turn. Well, if own one or two vehicles, you probably won’t make much of a dent in your carbon emissions this way.
But… what if you owned 92,000 trucks? Each being used nearly every day? United Parcel Service (UPS), the giant package delivery company, discovered that they could indeed impact both their bottom line and their resource use by simply avoiding left turns!
Roadnet, a division of UPS, developed software which seeks to eliminate left turns from UPS delivery routes. Since most routes are circular in nature anyway, the elimination of left turns doesn’t unduly impact drivers. In fact, by reducing left turn waiting, the system can increase efficiency (thereby reducing the number of trucks required to be on the roads), reduce fuel consumption and lower engine emissions. Best of all (at least for the accountants over at UPS), lower fuel consumption means lower costs.
Collectively, UPS and Roadnet’s third party clients are saving over 50 million gallons of diesel fuel every year!
Tags: automotive, global warming, transportation
One Comment
Would it be possible to get the source of this article, “Skip the Left Turn; Save The Planet.” I read it, but can’t remember where. I just remember that there is more to it. Thank you.