Process

The process that occurs when I am driving to work is a blocking process. Usually something occurs whether it is a traffic accident, roadside assistance is needed or just someone on the freeway driving too slow. There are also certain areas on the freeway where the number of lanes will decrease from maybe four lanes to three. So when any of these events occur traffic slows up and then stops, which increases my drive time to work daily. The metrics that I would be using would be the run time. I leave my house everyday at the same time (or close to it). The distance between my house and my job is 21 miles. It usually takes me 20 minutes to get to work with little or no traffic. When there is traffic my drive time (leaving at the same time) is anywhere from 45 to 1 hour. Usually when traffic is really bad I will take the streets to help shorten my travel time, but that does not always work. The speed limit in California on most highways is 65 mph. When I am driving to work if I leave at 6:45 a.m. the traffic is not too bad and I can usually drive about 70 mph and will get to work in about 20 minutes, if that. This time is considering that there are no accidents on the freeway. If I leave any time after 6:45 a.m. traffic is usually backed up and the average speed drops from 70 to about 5 depending on if there are accidents or something going on with the freeway (i.e. construction). It seems that a number of people are also leaving their houses to get to their destination around that same time. The carpool lane is always an option to reduce travel time. I worked for a company that had a carpool list available. It would show where all the employees lived (those that wanted that information to be disclosed) and would give their extension so that they could be contacted for carpooling. For some people, the list was helpful especially when you found out that there was someone you worked with (that had the same schedule) that you could drive with. The carpool lane generally moves a lot faster than the regular lanes and the only time it is backed up is if there is an accident. The carpool lane can save you about 15-30 minutes in drive time. There is always the option of checking the traffic report before leaving work. The traffic reports will report any major accidents on the freeway. They will also let you know if there is any construction going on or any other bottlenecking. Checking the traffic prior to leaving home will give the option of taking an alternate route or allow you to leave the house a little sooner. Checking the traffic report will also let you know where the traffic clears and where the next entrance to enter unto the freeway would be. The weather is also something that needs to be considered when it comes to the drive time to and from work. Usually when the weather is clear and there is no rain then the drive time is not affected. If there is rain then the drive time can vary. I usually like to leave the house about 15-20 minutes earlier. People tend to drive a lot slower when it is raining, which slows up traffic. In California, luckily there are not any other bad weather conditions that we have to be considered about. The rain does play a major role in the length of time it takes to travel 20 miles and has to be considered before leaving.