All Left Turns

So we were confused for a while while our morning commute is so much shorter than the afternoon commute. Specifically, why when we take local roads does it take so much longer since our top secret back road extravaganza is rarely impacted by large amounts of rush hour traffic. Then while we were waiting at a traffic light it occurred to us: left turns.

In the morning we usually make only right hand turns; almost exclusively. In the afternoon however, we tend to make only left turns. Even with traffic lights, left turns can be tricky.

Morning commute: 3 Left turns, 9 Right turns
Afternoon commute: 12 Left turns, 6 right turns

[while for the most part we travel the same route home as to work, there are slight variations due to one way streets, parking lots, and super top secret short cuts to avoid particularly bad left turns]