Posts Tagged ‘driving’

Forty-five minutes to an hour. That's how long it typically takes me to drive to work each morning. And that, my friends, is 19 to 34 minutes longer than the average Canadian's commute time of 26 minutes.

Canadians' average commute times
It's no surprise that Canadian cities (by census metropolitan area) with a population of more than 1 million reported the highest average commute times.

Here are the country's top three cities with the longest commute:

A little Toronto traffic in action.

33 minutes - Toronto
31 minutes - Montreal
30 minutes - Vancouver

I live in Toronto but on behalf of my city, I'd like to offer up the title of longest commute time to another great Canadian city. Montreal? ...Vancouver? ...Any takers?

Road rage just might begin with a full bladder
When traffic moves nicely, I enjoy my commute. It's a precious piece of "down-time" when I can listen to the radio and ease into and out of work mode. But I've come to learn that the frustrating combination of nasty traffic, inconsiderate drivers and a full bladder can bring me to the brink of tears.

I've learned a thing or two three four about dealing with a frustrating commute.

1. Relax! Yes, you're frustrated but unless you can wave a magic wand and command cars to float up into the sky and out of your way, accept that there's nothing you can really do about the situation. Breathe. Accept that things are out of your hands and you'll be better equipped to relax and then decide whether to stay the course or take another route.

2. Create a diversion. Distraction is a treasure when you're stuck in a traffic jam. Play Bumper Stumpers if the licence plates around you are accommodating, admire your fellow road warriors, day dream (that image of cars floating up into the sky at my wand's command didn't  just hatch itself, you know ;))

3. Turn up the radio -- but not so loud that you can't hear sirens from emergency vehicles. I find that listening to music that reminds me of a vacation works best for soothing the savage beast (a.k.a road rage). That's why my car is always stocked with reggae and Latin music. My car tunes have healing powers.

4. Pee before you flee. Yep, that's right. Expect the unexpected on the way to and from work. While you might expect that you'll be home with full access to your private bathroom in 20 minutes, a traffic jam could make your ride home very uncomfortable if you need to use the restroom.

Now it's your turn to share. What are your best tips for dealing with road rage? And how long does it take you to get to and from work?

Yeah that's right, this is my car. My dream car.

Though we drive infrequently, we're always trying to find more ways to conserve fuel. In doing some research, we've found some pretty useful tips. I thought that you would all benefit by leaning about maximizing your fuel economy. Boy, that sounds boring, but when we talk about it in terms of saving money, it becomes incredibly interesting!

• Watch that lead foot. Most cars work at peak performance when they're driven at the proper speed. Once you start driving over 90 kph, your car starts using more fuel. Also, it's important to drive at a consistent speed. Continuously accelerating and hitting the brakes uses up a lot more gas. My boyfriend always tells me that a good driver never needs to use her brakes, which reminds me to keep a safe distance from the cars in front of me.

• Don't idle. Nothing irks me more than seeing a car idling because I know the damage it's doing to the environment. But idling also wastes gas.

• Inflate your tires properly. Did you know that if your tires aren't properly inflated you could be wasting gas? Keeping them properly inflated can improve your mileage by over 3 per cent.

• Take a load off. Driving around with a trunk full of useless junk is equivalent to throwing money out the window, so clean out your trunk often. The only thing that should be in there is an emergency kit.

How do you maximize your fuel economy?

Also, don't forget to enter my current book giveaway.

How often do you put your car in park?

Yesterday was World Car Free Day, and I hope you joined folks all over the world in leaving your car at home and put on your walking shoes, getting on your bikes or riding your local transit system.

I think World Car Free Day is a great way to reflect upon the harm cars can do to our environment, the state of our public transit systems and the way our cities have developed. But as responsible citizens, we should do better that once a year.

Have you contemplated leaving your car at home often? Say, once a week, or once every two weeks? Do any of you take part in a car-sharing program?

Cars produce over 10,000 pounds of carbon dioxide each year (not to mention the amount of mining that goes into manufacturing cars and harmful petroleum extraction), so imagine the difference if we all dramatically changed our driving habits. Cycling and using public transit are great ways to explore a city, and think of how much less frustrated you'll be because you don't have to sit in traffic.

How have your driving habits changed?

I realize some of you might live in rural communities, where you have to be much more dependent on cars, but have you been able to make any changes?

Don't forget to enter my giveaway and you could be one of two winners. I'll announce the winners on Friday!

There was a great little piece in today's Toronto Star about a woman who (somewhat reluctantly) gave up her car. She didn't give it up because of its impact on the environment, but later learned the effect this gesture had on the planet. The author emphasizes all sorts of other benefits to giving up driving (a big one being a more active lifestyle). (more...)