Have you ever used the traffic reports when deciding what road to take?

Yes and my GPS on my mobile phone will notify me of slowdowns ahead. I’ve had a two hour slowdown notification; there was a multi car accident with several helicopters called in (found out later) road was total closed. I used an alternate route to get to my destination.

Yes.It keeps me from swearing.

Yes, often.

Yes, sometimes, but now mostly use Waze instead.

The problem with relying on traffic reports is that everyone else is listening too – so everyone bails out and takes the alternative route, which clogs that up.

My best example:

Leaving for Lake Tahoe (3½ hours with no traffic)five miles down the road I hear on the radio that my preferred route is clogged and will add 2 hours. I open up Waze on my phone and it directs me to a parallel route 40 miles away, but really only 20 extra miles.

Approaching Sacramento, I hear on the radio of a major accident on the transition freeway. Waze has already calculated an alternative that involves getting off the freeway and taking surface streets. I can tell I easily saved 20 minutes.

Made it to my destination with only an extra 40 minutes of travel, instead of the 2½ hours if I had not paid attention to the radio and app.

Where I am, snow conditions can vary across the valley so I sometimes check the traffic cameras for how much there is in areas of concern.

I use Waze when going to work or when going someplace when I’m in a hurry. Not only does it steer me around jams (and of course if I know the roads I can pick and choose whether to take Waze’s suggestions), but it helps me feel better to know when I’m going to arrive.

Oh sure. All the time before there was GPS on a smart phone. I’ve always been a commuter and would listen to the morning news while getting ready and this one radio station that did “traffic on the threes” to plot out my drive in my head and avoid accidents and bottle necks.

Gotta say though, Waze is a much better experience and gets me to where I need to go much quicker.

26 years ago in Central Connecticut, there was an all traffic radio station. They had listeners call in with accident reports and slow downs. I called in one that happened on a snow covered Interstate right in front of me but coming the other way. I pulled over and checked the driver by yelling over to him, he was okay and calling a tow truck. I then called in and 30 seconds later the station put out an alert about the snow covered ice on that section of road. They also give info about gasoline prices.

Yes. Especially in recent decades in Seattle, where the natural landscape means there are only so many possible routes, and there are far too many cars trying to use them at once, it can save many hours of wasted time, especially if you let it tell you not only which road to take, but whether to go out in a car at all.

No.