Survey Reveals That Chicago is a City of “Neutral Navigators”
CONCORD, Mass.--Chicagoans are more likely than other Americans to use their portable navigation device to help find their way and locate points of interest while on vacation, according to a recent survey that revealed the city’s “driving personality.” The seven city survey was conducted by Concord-based TomTom Inc., the world’s leading provider of navigation solutions and digital maps.
While vacationing, 64.9 percent of Chicagoans use their GPS to locate restaurants, museums and parks. Chicago residents take a casual approach to driving: 41.5 percent of drivers travel by car to do daily errands. Additionally, Chicago drivers proved themselves to be smart shoppers when it comes to shopping for gas – they ranked highest (14.6 percent) for stopping to fill up when they see low prices. The traffic light turns green, but the driver in front of them hasn’t noticed, what would they do? As true Neutral Navigators, 29.3 percent of Chicagoans wait until the driver notices the green light, rather than honking the horn immediately.
Cities surveyed fell into three different “driving personality” categories:
Diligent Driver – Extremely conscientious drivers who consistently stick to the rules of the road
Neutral Navigator – A milder breed of drivers who take a steady, “middle-of-the-road” approach to driving and typically go with the flow
Courageous Commuter – Bold drivers who do what it takes to overcome the obstacles and complexities of daily driving
Chicago was one of seven major U.S. cities to be surveyed on a number of typical driving scenarios to determine its unique reactions and distinct driving style. Some interesting results follow.
Chicago had solid scores when it came to neutral navigating:
| 77.1% Simply change lanes when someone is tailgating them | High Score: Los Angeles, 80.8% | ||
| 16.1% Never miss their exits | High Score: New York, 21.5% | ||
| 45.4% Take less crowded back roads when driving in traffic | High Score: Boston, 51.7% | ||
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8.3% Drive one to two hours for a work commute |
High Score: Chicago | ||
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15.1% Leave right on time for an appointment and hope for no traffic |
High Score: Atlanta, 19.4% |
“As Americans spend more and more of their time on the road, driving personalities naturally emerge,” said Kendra Thornton, Travel Expert and Industry Publicist. “Through TomTom’s Driving Personality Survey, we are able to see how each city’s ‘driving personality’ directly relates to its unique lifestyle, landscape and culture.”
Interestingly only Chicago drivers included “flat tires” as one of their top three driving frustrations. One Chicagoan had an embarrassing moment when he was busted-picking his nose at a traffic light by a school bus full of children.
Since Chicagoans are always keeping their eye on fuel prices and 14.6 percent will stop if they drive by a gas station with low prices, TomTom’s Fuel Price Service is their favorite TomTom feature. TomTom’s Fuel Price Service helps these fuel conscious drivers choose gas stations by location or price, and helps them find the lowest gas prices on their route, nearby or within a user-selected mile radius. Travelers can also choose which type of gas they would like tracked: regular, mid-grade, premium or diesel.
The seven cities surveyed include Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and New York.
Readers can discover their own driving personality, by taking TomTom’s short quiz, at http://www.survey.com/tomtom.
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About TomTom
TomTom NV is the world’s leading provider of navigation solutions and digital maps. TomTom NV has over 3,300 employees working in four business units – TomTom, Tele Atlas, AUTO and WORK.
TomTom's products are developed with an emphasis on innovation, quality, ease of use, safety and value. TomTom's products include all-in-one navigation devices which enable customers to navigate right out of the box; these are the award-winning TomTom GO family, the TomTom XL and TomTom ONE ranges and the TomTom RIDER. Additionally, independent research proves that TomTom products have a significant positive effect on driving and road safety.
Tele Atlas delivers the digital maps and dynamic content that power some of the world’s most essential navigation and location-based services (LBS). Through a combination of its own products and partnerships, Tele Atlas offers digital map coverage of more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. The AUTO business unit develops and sells navigation systems and services to car manufacturers and OEMs. WORK combines industry leading communication and smart navigation technology with leading edge tracking and tracing expertise.
TomTom NV was founded in 1991 in Amsterdam and has offices in Europe, North America, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. TomTom is listed at Euronext Amsterdam in The Netherlands. For more information, go to www.tomtom.com.