Driving_to_Work

Running head: DRIVING TO WORK Driving to Work Philip Lavoie BSN, RN, CCRN University of Phoenix Driving to Work Driving to work is a task that I perform three times per week. I spend approximately about 40 to 45 minutes on the road from house to hospital. While performing this task it is difficult, if not impossible, to perform any other task that I need to do throughout the week. Traffic is a problem along with how many lights I sit at that delay my progress on the road. I try to obey the speed limit that varies depending on which road I am on but at times I find myself doing well above the speed limit to keep with the flow of traffic. In order to perform this task I must have a dependable car, gas, and leave in enough time to allow for travel. I have a red convertible mustang that makes the ride a little bit more enjoyable while performing this task. I have to stop about once a week and allow enough time to refuel. I listen to music to help pass the time while on my journey. The car is capable of going much faster than the speed limit so I must be careful not to let my heavy foot push too hard on the gas pedal. A great feature on this car is cruise control when I chose to use it. While traveling many unforeseen factors affect my travel time. I have encountered storms, accidents, broken down cars, road construction, and bottlenecking at certain areas on my route. I have not been late for work in the three months that I have been employed at this facility because I allow enough time for unforeseen circumstances that may hinder my progression. My global positioning system (GPS) has picked my route to the hospital and is supposedly the shortest distance between the two points. There are various routes that I could take to my destination that, although they may be longer in distance, they may take less time due to lights and traffic. I have on occasion taken different routes when for example I have missed my exit. These alternate routes have felt like they may have cut some time off my trip but I have not timed them to prove that they are in fact shorter. I am use to the route I take and I know approximately how much time I will need to complete the journey and where the problems usually occur. In the past I have had to drive twenty miles to get to work in upstate New York but there were much fewer lights and much less traffic I had to deal with. I was dismayed when I first drove this route to work and found that it took anywhere from thirty minutes to an hour and a half to reach my destination on days. The day traffic is much heavier than that evening traffic I have to endure now. On the trip I take a major highway, US 19, and I take secondary roads like 66th Street and Curlew Road to reach my destination. There are two major work areas on my route that can be major delays depending on how heavy the traffic is. Some of the traffic lights can last up to five minutes in duration. I have three turns to make and one merge onto a secondary street that has lights in what seems to be every five to ten miles. Sometimes on my trip I can bring something to eat or usually I bring my coffee to drink. As mentioned I listen to the music sometimes very loud and usually I have the top down. I often think of things that I have to do or things that I have already have done while driving. I will not talk on the phone or text while driving because driving needs all my attention. There is not much more that I can do while traveling to work. Throughout the process design there is bottlenecking and buffering beyond my control. Finding a new route may be the solution to this problem. My current route is 20 miles from door-to-door a new route might have less traffic lights and traffic but might be more miles. Two measurable metrics I will be looking at are time spent stopped at traffic lights and timing alternate routes in search of a quicker travel time. There also seems to be a pattern to the traffic lights meaning if I have to stop at one on US 19 I will probably then have to stop for all of them; the same is true for 66th Street. I will have to look at a map to plot alternate routes, count traffic lights on those roads, and time the red/green cycles of the traffic lights. |Travel Flow Chart | | | | | |time in minutes | |door-to-door | | | | |go out of building | | | |enter car | | | |prepare car | | | |leave parking area | | | |get on main road | | | |begin drive to destination | | | |stop for traffic lights | | | |stop for road work/accidents | | |park car | | | |enter destination building | | |present total travel time |40-45 | | | | |