Leading the World in Wasted Time

by P.J. DiNuzzo                                                                                               March 26, 2016

Leading the World in Wasted Time           

America leads the world in economic productivity, total economic output, earnings and wealth per citizen and a variety of other categories.  Now we can add something new to the list: time spent in automobiles during our daily commutes to work.

The annual Traffic Scorecard compiled by INRIX in Kirkland, WA reveals that the average automobile commuter spends nearly 50 hours a year stuck in traffic-more than Belgium (44 hours), the Netherlands (39 hours), Germany (38 hours), Luxembourg (33 hours), Switzerland (30 hours), Britain (30 hours) and France (28 hours).  Among major cities, only London (101 hours) beats the largest American cities, led by Los Angeles, where people spent an extra 81 hours in rush hour congestion last year.

In all, U.S. commuters spent an aggregate of eight billion extra hours stuck in traffic-more than an entire workweek per year per worker. 

Sincerely, 

P.J. DiNuzzo, CPA, PFS®, AEP®, AIF®, MSTx, MBA
President, Founder, and Chief Investment Officer