Strange Fact of the Day

So I was reading the Mercury News like I do every day and in the Action Line column, there were various ways to save money. Most of them were common sense but the one I'd never heard before was to avoid making left turns because it uses more gas. I, for the life of me, can not figure out why this is. I googled it and the only thing I could find is that left hand turns require you to remain idle at a light thus using more gas. UPS actually has a software program that maps out drivers routes to avoid left turns.

Now....being the overly analytical person that I am, I suspect the acceleration, wider turn and the awkwardness of making a left turn is also a reason more gas is used. Think about it. If you're on a one way street and make a right turn on to another one way street, you can easily make it around the curve and stay in your own lane without having to apply the brakes which results in losing very little speed. At least I can anyways. On the other hand, if you're on a one way street and turn left onto a one way street, you pretty much have to apply the brakes to get around the curb without drifting into the next lane or losing control of the vehicle. As a result, you'd lose nearly have your speed and have to hit the gas to get back up to the speed you were at before.

I can't figure out if this has something to do with the side of the car we sit on and if it's easier to handle maneuvers on the opposite side you sit on or what. I won't be able to figure that out until I go to Europe and attempt to drive a car there.