Improvement?

Yuppie, I've made some improvement from the running route i take. This time is 17mins 12secs. But is that really improvement?

From previous runs, i usually spend quite some time at traffic light junctions. This time however I chose the easier way to cross the road, obviously cutting short alot of waiting time at the light junction. This leave me to ponder whether I'm really running faster than the last time or slower.