Beware of traffic congestion in these cities

New York is among the worst cities in the country for traffic congestion, according to TomTom Telematics. ( Photo: Wikimedia Commons/ ILMRT )

TomTom Telematics North America has identified the top 5 most congested cities in the United States, and the cities on the list should be no surprise to truck drivers. The transportation think-tank has noted New York, Seattle, San Jose, San Francisco and Los Angeles as the most congested cities, leading to $1.55 billion in annual loses, or $7.71 million a day.

The time spent sitting in traffic resulted in 241,100,653 productivity hours lost to traffic congestion and driving time is extended by 44 minutes in Los Angeles alone, according to a release.  

Traffic congestion is “a fact of life,” according to Torsten Grunzig, director of sales for TomTom Telematics North America. But this fact escalates into a major inconvenience in L.A. itself. “L.A. stands out as one of the worst cities for traffic in the U.S., according to our data,” Grunzig said. He said L.A. has taken the 12th spot in the list of the most congested cities in the world with an increase of 14% in less than a decade.

Peak hours for traffic congestion were Tuesdays between 8 and 9 a.m. and Thursday nights between 5 and 6 p.m. Grunzig explained in detail the impact of those lost minutes. “Traffic congestion increases the probability of a driver becoming stuck on the road, wasting billable time, burning fuel, increasing emissions and potentially disappointing customers,” he said.

San Francisco traffic was analyzed not only by TomTom Telematics but by the navigation app Waze, which listed the city as the 6th worst U.S. city for driving, San Francisco Gate reports. Waze’s list, though, is more generic insight into traffic congestion. Waze’s list is topped off by Honolulu. L.A. came in 4th overall on Waze’s list.

As TomTom’s research was focused on commercial carriers, it gave them insight on how congestion can be addressed. “Not only can a fleet tracking solution help to ensure drivers receive the better available route, based on anticipated congestion spots and collected data from other devices, they can also enable the back office to better plan around congestion, and keep customers alerted as to a drivers’ ETA,” Grunzig said.

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