How to Register for Free Traffic Alerts

1. Determine what kind of traffic alerts you need---this will help you choose a website. You may want a periodic alert to all local traffic conditions, a daily alert for a particular route or an alert that is administered only when traffic reaches a certain intensity.
2. Navigate to a free traffic alert website (see Resources) and register for an account. Opening an account with a traffic alert website is the most reliable way of getting consistent alerts---by doing so, you can ensure that you are alerted consistently based on the alert conditions you decided upon.
3. Enter into the website the route for which you want traffic alerts, and choose which conditions you wish to be alerted to. For example, you can request that you be alerted only under certain traffic conditions, like heavy traffic jams.
4. Download a widget for your computer. Different widgets---small applications---offer different types of traffic alerts that are always only a mouse-click away. You could download a widget designed to give traffic conditions in Paris, or a more generalized widget produced by traffic.com.