Semi-Formal Friday: Driving Habits

b*, male, b

(*) I often enjoy finding and taking alternate routes just for the fun of it, especially if they're of similar length of time and are on obscure roads.

1) A
2) Male
3) B

b, male, a

c
M
b

C, Male, B

1) none of the above
2) male
3) b

Traffic is only one of the factors that affects whether I take the main roads or a back route. There's also time pressure (if I'm in a hurry I'm more likely to stick to the main route), time of day (at night I am more likely to stick to the main roads, especially if I'm unfamiliar with the back roads in the vicinity), exploration (have I been on that road before, and how recently), and mood (sometimes I just feel like getting off the beaten path).

1) b (usually main roads unless heavy traffic)
2) Male
3) a (rural)

c
male
c

1) B

2) Male

3) A and B.

1) B*
2) F
3) B

* Most of my driving is in urban areas on major surface streets, so "alternate routes" are usually just _other_ major surface streets.

b*, F**, b***

* if alternate routes are available... long story
** Damn, Pam just beat me out by being the first female
*** I /officially/ learned to drive in the suburbs where we lived. I learned to /steer/ when I was a kid sitting on my parents' laps in game reserves :)

1) C
2) M
3) B

1)I sometimes take main routes and sometimes alternative ones!
2)M
3)a

b
m
b

Now go take my poll!

1) B
2) Male
3) B

1. b
2. Male (forget the letters?)
3. b

1. b
2. male
3. c

b, male, suburban

However, the real answer to (1) is 'whatever route I think is fastest.' More often than not main roads are fastest, simply because speed limits are higher. But if I know of a faster shortcut involving an alternate route, I will take that instead of the main road.

I suspect very many people take the same approach.

1. b* (Usually shortest route, which is mostly main roads. See below.)
2. male
3. b
I think you should have also asked asked about where you currently drive, which for me is rural, meaning there is usually negligible traffic on most roads I use of any kind.

B (although where I live, traffic really isn't an issue, it's more a question of how fast I want to get there and whether or not I'm in the mood to drive on the highway)
Female
B

b, female, b

although, if there is construction, I'll take alternate routes whether or not the traffic through that area is heavy

B, Male, C.

1: What's this talk about roads? Where I go, I don't need no stinking roads! 4X4 all the way! ;-)

2: Male (at least, the last time I checked).

3: What do you mean "Learned to drive" (See the answer to #1 above!)?

Umm, by the way, is it considered an alternate route if, while driving between Lexington, Kentucky, and Vancouver, BC, you go via Albuquerque, NM? Oh, and I took a wrong turn there, too. ;-)

Dave

b, male, a

b, female, b

b, female, urban

Damn, I let my aside go astray..

The theory goes - when a limited access expressway is free and empty of competing traffic, I'll follow the customary route. However, if I am expecting conditions to be difficult, then I either suss out alternative routes from memory or I spend a few minutes poring over an Auto club map.

The canonical example is the drive back to NYC from Atlantic City. I have eight main route alternatives with a near infinite plenitude of optional detours, depending on what is said at xx:x1, xx:x5, and xx:x8.

And sometimes, it's better to relax with some sangria while 280 stacks up back to Edison.

1) b,* I think. (I'm not quite sure what "alternate route" means. Residential streets? State highways? Rural roads?)

2) Male

3) b

* One of the great things about having a GPS is that when I run into heavy traffic, I can take the first exit and just start driving orthogonally to my destination. The GPS will eventually calculate an alternate route that doesn't involve getting back into traffic.

1. DC to eastern NY (the big N) or Boston, usually option a. DC to western NY, option b (lack of direct major roads; many smaller roads are equivalent, and I sometimes forget which route is best)
2. M
3. b

b; female; b

The alternate roads option depends on how well I know the area - certainly in my home city I always have in mind half a dozen ways to get anywhere during construction season. Not so much if I'm visiting somewhere, though I do also now as HP does, and let the GPS offer me suggestions.

1. question doesn't apply. I don't drive. when I walk, it's usually the shortest route. when I take the bus, it's the bus route. when I bicycle, it's often the route with the least car addicts.
2. male
3. b

bbb

1. b
2. m
3. b

I cannot stand traffic. It boils my blood. The location of my house was chosen to avoid traffic. Its not a time thing, its a stress/quality of life issue. I would walk/bicycle to work if I could, but I live in the suburbs.

BTW, Urban males are 10 lbs lighter on avg. than suburban males. 6lbs for females.

BMB

1.a/c (for motorcycle/car)
2.f
3.c

1. b
2. m
3. a

c, female, a

I don't drive, male, suburban.

b, m, c.

A*
Female
a**

*As long as the traffic is moving at all, I tend to stay on the major roads. This is especially true now that I live in Redmond, where the roads are nothing close to a grid. When I lived in the Bay Area, my threshold for moving off the major road was lower, because there were lots of alternatives.
**or at least the rural end of suburban; I lived in a subdivision outside a smallish town in the South when I was learning to drive. The driving part of my test to get my license consisted of a trip around a block with no traffic, 4 right hand turns.

1) A. But most days I only drive about 20 minutes, and in my area, there's usually little traffic, and no real difference between the main and alternative routes. On days I do drive a lot, it's usually a long way to somewhere fairly unfamiliar, so I stick to the easy-to-remember route. I have strange driving habits.
2) Male
3) A, rural

(a) is not well-posed. One may not always behave the same way. I usually teach a class or two at a satellite campus, thirty-odd miles from my house. I can go via the highway, or I can take a two-lane country road, shaded with trees (but with some nasty tight turns). On the way to teach, I take the scenic route; on the way home, I invariably take the highway.

(b) Male

(c) Manhattan

b
F
b

c
M
b

B, Male and B again.

B, female, B. Particularly when learning my way around a new city, I tend to follow the Google Map route on the way TO the destination, then try to find my back via alternate routes to flesh out my mental "map" of the place.

Also, whether I seek out alternate routes depends on how pressed I am for time.

Well, I don't know the paths very well, so the answer to the 1st one is (a)
I am male.
And I live in the suburban, so you know the answer to that one :)

b, female, very much a (my house was 3 miles out on a dirt road that was itself 3 miles from the middle of a town of 4,000. Obviously not the smallest town ever...but definitely rural. We had an SUV for the four-wheel drive before SUVs were status symbols...)

1) B
2) Male
3) B

Though I've driven most of my driving career in an urban setting now, which is probably why I'm much more ready to take alternate routes.

1. b, where one substitutes "most direct route" for main roads

2. a (with a side of c!) :)

3. b

b; male; a

b,b,c