Circuit City research finds drivers are considering tech for summer road trips

Research commissioned by Circuit City shows that Americans are looking to technology solutions to help them save gas and stay connected throughout the busy travel season. The consumer-electronics retailer commissioned third-party research to poll 1,000 people planning summer road trips and found that 94 percent were concerned about gas prices, 80 percent were worried about traffic jams, and 54 percent were worried about getting lost.

In the time-tested tradition of setting up a problem to sell a solution, Circuit City then asked its respondents whether they thought a GPS navigation device would help them avoid wasting gas; 61 percent said they did (although there are no figures on how many of these were then railroaded into a hard-sell pitch for a TomTom or a Garmin unit).

In a separate study, Circuit City also commissioned online research into which personal technology item--other than a cell phone--that people were most likely to bring on a road trip. Office bosses will be pleased with the findings. According to the survey results, 36 percent of respondents said they would take a notebook computer--more than respondents opting for portable DVD players (23 percent) and personal MP3 players (11 percent) combined. It looks like entertainment takes a backseat to work even when on the open road.