We all know that sitting in a left-hand-turn lane or waiting to turn across lanes of oncoming traffic can be time-consuming and even treacherous. The New York Times Magazine has a great article by Joel Lovell on a highly focused effort by UPS to eliminate left-hand turns from its drivers' delivery routes. The company is using a "package flow" software program to pre-plot delivery sequences for its 95,000 vehicles. It may sound comically anal-retentive, but the results are staggering: Lovell reports that UPS lopped off some 28.5 million miles from its delivery routes last year thanks to the software, saving 3 million gallons of fuel and cutting carbon dioxide emissions by close to 69 million pounds. We have to wonder: If such a strategy can yield this kind of savings for UPS, what can it do for the average person? How much fuel, time, and sanity might we save in a year of driving if we pre-planned errand-running to minimize (or even eliminate) left-hand turns?

Photo courtesy of UPS.

Via Slashdot.