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HOLLENBECK: No more left turns for spouse |
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Monday, 14 April 2008 |
My spouse drives infrequently these days. It’s a health-related, safety measure that I’m not arguing with, and that’s probably all I ought to say about it — but of course I’ll say more.
I’ve been the family’s driver of record for some time, primarily because I trust very few others’ driving besides my own, and then sometimes I still find myself wondering about the driver.
Becoming the chief driver was a natural progression for me. My mother rarely let anyone take over the steering wheel, and my father would have run for the next town before driving a vehicle in which Mamma was a passenger. (We’re not even going to get into his parallel parking, for which his style was legend in our little town. That’s material for another epistle.)
In spite of dominating the driving duties for the Hollenbecks, I was taken aback the other day when Ed told me he makes only right turns these days.
“Say what?” I replied.
“I don’t make left turns anymore,” he said. “I only turn right.”
Well, that set me to thinking. How could you get by with just right turns? Wouldn’t you have to do an awful lot of driving out of the way?
I articulated some of this to Ed, and he explained — quite patiently, as only he can — that it’s not so hard to do once you set your mind to it.
“It’s just safer for me and everyone else if I just turn right,” he said.
OK. I accept that part. I just don’t see how it’s possible all the time, but maybe I need to redirect my thinking.
As I am wont to do, I popped off some smarty statements about his new driving style and have had to devour a huge helping of crow since then.
Ed, I’ve learned is way ahead of me in this. Turning right evidently is the new national driving scheme, and I never heard of it. Do I ever feel foolish.
Delivery giant UPS has determined the right-turn-only approach is a way to save gas.
The company claims that making right turns instead of turning left at intersections can help the environment, and it’s hard to argue with that reasoning.
An engineer for the company reportedly redesigned all of its routes so that the drivers would make a minimum of left turns. (Evidently, he couldn’t get rid of ALL of them. Maybe if the company hired Ed, he could figure it out.)
As a result of the redesigned, mainly-right-turn routes, the company claims it shaved 30 million miles off its deliveries in 2007 and thus saved the cost of 3 million gallons of gas.
It also reduced UPS trucking missions by 32,000 metric tons, which reportedly is equivalent to 53,000 passenger cars.
What makes right turns so much more energy-efficient?
Here’s the answer: Cars and trucks are not idling in traffic burning gas and releasing emissions when the drivers turn right as opposed to when they’re turning left.
Ed says right turns are just safer because drivers don’t have to face oncoming traffic to execute the turn. And I concede that makes sense.
Also, I can understand how you’d save time if you didn’t have to wait to turn. The only place I’m delayed in my daily route to work, which hits smack into heavy school traffic, is where I have a left turn and have to wait on traffic most days. I’ve figured out a detour into a public parking lot that helps a little, but there’s still a delay some days because I’m turning left. And I acknowledge that I have to watch both directions very carefully to coordinate my turn safely.
UPS contends that people can’t control sky-high gas prices, but they can make small changes in their driving habits that benefit them financially and environmentally over time.
UPS trucks made more right turns last year and saved money, its corporate folks say. They also claim that a little thing like a right turn can go a long way toward saving the planet.
They suggest that we ordinary drivers try it and see how we end up saving fuel and money — and maybe lives.
And if you need someone to explain it, just call my husband. He’s never been at a loss for words and he’ll tell you how.
We’ll be OK with his right-turns-only technique as long as we stay in this country. If we move to England and start driving on the left side of the road, then we could be in trouble. That could make for a whole set of new problems.
Lynda Hollenbeck is associate editor of the Courier.
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