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Health & Fitness

511 Won't Make It to My Speed Dial

Using 511 in traffic would make me more frustrated.

On Thursday, the State Highway Administration Maryland now had 511 and www.md511.org. It is supposed to help motorists navigate the roadways as it provides updates on traffic congestion, accidents, roadwork, etc.

I decided to give 511 a test tonight. I figured it was best to test it out before I was actually on the road and needed it. The system allows you to use your touch tone keypad or respond by voice. I decided to do the voice option since it is illegal for me to punch numbers on my keypad while I am driving.

Think about the last time you called a customer service number and you were left shouting your answers to the voice system because they just couldn't understand you. This was my experience tonight with 511. I don't know if I wasn't speaking clear enough or loud enough or not in a tone that 511 liked. Somehow me saying "one," was heard as "Wheaton" and I was taken on a trail of traffic incidents in Wheaton.

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I can just imagine sitting in grid lock, calling 511 to see what the heck is backing up the roadway and how do I get out of it and I just become more and more frustrated because my phone won't understand me. No thank you! I'll stick to staying off the phone and jamming to my tunes hardcore when traffic comes to a crawl.

If you want to avoid becoming more angry and potentially save your phone from flying out the window in a fit of anger, I would pass on the 511.

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