Times of Day to Avoid Travel
No matter which country you visit, there is a universal constant that links every city or town in the world and sends emotions raging for everyone involved at the same peak hours across all time zones. That one thing is, naturally, commuter traffic.
Now, call me crazy, but staggered starting times for essential and non-essential workers might ease the road load, but rarely is such forward-thinking observed, and instead, we are all left in the same tailbacks that we get stuck in every day.
Road Safety Tips: Times of Day to Avoid Travel
One of the significant drawbacks of commuter traffic is the heightened risk of accidents. From rear-end collisions to dinks and scrapes with sleepy-eyed drivers not paying enough attention, peak hour travel is a risk that many must face.
If you have been affected, you may be left wondering things like whether you have the right to make a claim or if you can sue after being hit by a semi truck, a motorcycle, or a cyclist. Always speak to a lawyer if you are not sure. Today, we will look at times of travel to avoid if at all possible.
Bonus Travel Tip: Keep some emergency gear in your car if you hit long traffic or your vehicle breaks down. These include first aid and items like snacks, deicing salt, and a fully charged portable charger.
Rush hour has outgrown its original 60-minute window.
It’s a saying that we’re all used to. Rush hour describes peak traffic congestion levels, right before 9 AM, where workers bottleneck into town and city centers to scrape into work on time, right? Well, yeah. That’s technically still true, but the truth has grown. Instead of rush hour just occupying the mad-dash hour between 8 AM and 9 AM, you can reasonably expect a rush hour to occupy a much broader period, starting as early as 7 AM and only showing signs of easing up late as 9:30 AM.
When to travel?
If you can work flexi-time and move your whole life two hours forward, getting to work at 7 AM is perhaps the most straightforward way to beat the traffic. Also, if you only have to be in the office on certain days, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are less likely to cause traffic issues than Monday and Friday. Noon traffic is statistically more dangerous for weekend workers, meaning you should attempt to head into work before midday.
You can also play the numbers game to cut down on the number of days per year that you might experience frustration with congestion by switching when you take your annual leave.
Road safety Tips: When to avoid travel
If you are the kind of person who likes to take time off from work in all of the standard windows in which most people take their vacations, you’re missing a trick.
By working through these times to avoid travel, families with children will be on vacation, or the parents will be staying home to look after the children during school breaks, meaning fewer cars on the road and a much smoother trip into work.