Are you losing 20% ?

You just spent a small fortune to fill up the tank and you don't want to lose it so fast.  What can you do?

Well, besides walking, biking or taking public transport, you can drive the speed limit.  Every day I see people zipping by me going 20% faster than the speed limit and burning 20% more fuel to do it.  For instance, 60Km speed limit but everyone is going 72Km; 80 speed limit but doing 96; 100 but doing 120...  you get the idea. 

I was no different a few years ago.  Driving the speed limit was one of the last "green" actions I took for transportation.  The fact is I love to drive fast, it's fun!  That said, I now drive the speed limit and have found some real benefits besides not losing so much money.  It is really relaxing compared to the "get out of my way moron" method of driving.  I think it's probably safer too and I think I have the right to make this claim having smashed up three cars, two in the fast lane on the highway (not my fault of course but if I had been going the speed limit, I'm sure I wouldn't have been in the accident) 

I'm actually surprised more people haven't figured this out with the price of gas right now.  Another thing I notice, as I putt along at the speed limit, is people with bigger vehicles drive faster.  My theory is that if you bought a small car it was because of thrift and environmental concern which both result in driving slower.  If you bought a hummer it was because you have something to prove to the world and passing everyone of the way just makes your point even better. 

In the last week I've actually been driving SLOWER than the speed limit at times as the $30 for a half tank really hurt!  I only drive slow like this if there is no one behind me (slow drivers can be a big hazard to the hummer guys) and I have a few extra minutes to spare.  An interesting fact that I came along the other day to support this slow speed is that the highway mileage ratings are done at 70Km per hour.  With my car in 5th gear and going under 80 I can get under 5.6l/100km or over 50mpg.

I don't want to lose that 20%!

Comments

[Em Arde]

Actually, the relationship between speed and fuel economy isn't as simple as "going 20% faster burns 20% more fuel". There are rolling resistance, aerodynamic drag and component friction to take into account, among other factors. And there's the fact that driving faster means you're driving for a shorter time to cover the same distance. So it all comes down to measuring fuel consumed per unit distance. Your example of 20% faster consuming 20% more fuel isn't accurate - at normal driving speeds, going 20% faster actually means much more than 20% more fuel will be consumed to travel the same distance, in large part because the drag coefficient increases as speed increases. The work to overcome increased drag at higher speed more than offsets the time saving from driving faster. So you're right, going the speed limit saves fuel over speeding ... thing is, it does so even more than most people realize.

[Laurence C]

I must admit that I have slowed down a bit in the past few years. I just find the stress is lower and I get where I am going quite relaxed. Saving gas? Well, maybe, but it wasn't my main concern.

[Tom West]

If you are going down a major road with lots of signals, then you should know the signals are timed so that you get all green lights if you drive at speed limit. (It's known as the "green wave" by transport engineers). If yo udrive over the speed limit, you just have to stop at the next intersection! As accelerating uses more fuel than steady speed, it's great for your fuel efficiency.