Sitting in traffic not only is irritating, but also increases harmful emissions into the air.  Cars are most efficient travelling anywhere from 40-65 miles an hour.  That keeps carbon emissions to a minumum.  So, to reduce your emssions make sure you check the traffic on the Internet before heading out.

Nationally you can use either Google Maps (http://maps.google.com/) or Yahoo Maps (http://maps.yahoo.com/) to check traffic.  Just go to either Google Maps or Yahoo Maps, put in your geographic data and click on the traffic icon.   Checking the traffic is just that simple.

Traffic.com is also a great national traffic source (http://www.traffic.com/)

Sometimes local traffic report sites have more accurate information, Google and Yahoo have tricked me a few times.  In Los Angeles, I like to use SigAlert (http://www.sigalert.com/), it has accurate information and tells you about all the accidents and mishaps on the freewas in LA.

If anyone else has any other great sites to check traffic please add it to this solution.

So make sure to check the traffic before you hit the road, and if you really need to be somewhere take an alternate route to be more efficient.

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