Finding the path of least resistance on your commute is becoming more and more difficult, as Atlanta’s population continues to rise and sprawl. Mix in unpredictable weather, increased distracted driving, the larger number of tractor trailers coming through town - oh yeah, and a bridge collapse. All of these annoyances ratchet up the trip times, intensity, and length of each rush hour.
Having observed this, WSB’s Traffic Team went to work in late 2015 to make our extensive reports even more available and helpful. That answer finally comes later this summer in the form of the WSB Triple Team Traffic App.
We see the numbers and anecdotally notice that traffic apps are the number one aid commuters, especially younger ones, use on their routes. This makes sense, as the most popular of these can tell drivers exactly the distance and time of their trips and the apps can adapt to changing traffic conditions and send the drivers another way entirely.
But as commuters become more dependent on the app saying what to do, they become less in charge or knowledgeable of their route.
Another fault of traffic apps is their lack of detailed info on traffic incidents themselves. Sure, there may be a crash a mile ahead that is causing a five minute delay. But what lanes is it blocking? How bad is it? Is it minor enough to just sit through the delay and not mess with an alternate?
Current apps do not have this intel, because they are automatic and crowdsourced - their info is not from experts flying above these wrecks or watching them and helping you make that judgment.
The WSB Triple Team Traffic App’s number one feature is audio alerts about each significant traffic problem that we actually record ourselves either from the helicopter or in the WSB 24-Hour Traffic Center.
But get this - these alerts fire off automatically, hands-free, and in enough time to make a decision to react or not. For example, if a crash on I-85/southbound at Shallowford Road was blocking three right lanes, you might hear Mark Arum (the lovable former scribe of this column, whom you know from Channel 2 Action News and WSB Radio) tell you about it back before I-285. This alert would play in enough time for you to decide whether or not to take I-285. And based on what you hear Arum saying in the alert, combined with the real-time traffic you’re hearing on News 95.5/AM750 WSB in the car, you can get the sense of how truly bad the wreck is.
Other apps do not do this.
The Triple Team Traffic App will be integral in planning your ride before you leave as well. You can search by address for your destination and then measure your trip time there. The Metro Atlanta map view will show all traffic incidents where you can hear or read the traffic reports on demand when you press the incident location pins. The map will also have the red and yellow flow data to show the backups.
Checking your route with this new, innovative app and watching Arum’s Channel 2 traffic reports before you leave home in the morning will properly arm you for the battle ahead.
The traffic apps popular now are just fine and we encourage their use safely, especially when you need turn-by-turn directions. But you trust WSB Radio and TV the most when there are major traffic problems on your familiar commute and we want to tell you about them even sooner.
So please keep planning your ride with our radio and TV reports, but add the WSB Triple Team Traffic App later this month as another important layer in your route defense. Driving with it essentially puts us in the passenger seat of your car.
Take charge of your ride again!
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