Driving speeds and $4/gallon gas - are you slowing down?
May 22, 2008
I currently don’t drive much, so when I do I tend to be more aware of others’ driving habits than I used to be. Maybe it’s the speeding tickets I’ve had over the years, or maybe I’m just getting old, but I don’t tend to drive very fast anymore. If anything my wife thinks I drive too slow sometimes. With that said, with gas coming up to $4/gallon ($3.95 by my house today, and $4.69 for diesel!) I’m somewhat surprised by how many people haven’t changed their habits.
I was passed numerous times today by SUVs flooring it to pass me, apparently because they wanted to be first to slam on the brakes before the red light (which was already yellow when they were passing me). I want to say I’m exaggerating this behaviour, but I’m not. I was driving 60 on the freeway (yes, in the right lane), but was a bit stunned to see people obviously doing 75 or more. While I realize that people need to get to places on time, it’s reported all over the place that driving slower reduces your gas usage by up to 10%. That’s the equivalent of paying $3.60 instead of $4.00 for each gallon.
My mom told me a few weeks ago she’s paying $80/week to commute across town. It’s likely now close to $100/week. A 10% savings would be saving $10/week - $520 per year. People switch car insurance companies for that, go out of their way to buy extra things to get ‘points back’ for ‘free’ airmiles and whatnot, but won’t just slow down to save money. I don’t get it.
Back when gas was $1.10/gallon, it was much harder to make the financial argument for slowing down. It’s been much easier the past year or so, but I haven’t really seen any difference. Have you? Do you drive slower now than you used to to save on gas use?
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May 22nd, 2008 at 11:10 pm
Do I hear the return of a 55-mph speed limit?
If people in the United States are not smart enough to do it themselves, the government will have to step in and impose conservation measures. One could argue that these never work (CAFE standards) or are sabotaged or undermined by private industry, but sooner or later it will happen because the average consumer can’t or won’t make the distinction between what he wants and what makes sense for the country. And it’ll probably be some kind of compromised measure as well, making us all wonder, “what the hell for then?”
Incidentally, I’m about to go rent a car and spend some time on the Autobahn and country roads around here in a few minutes. I only need to rent a car a few times per year, doing most of my local daily travel on foor or my bike (or occasionally via public transit), but when I do, it’s a pleasure.
May 23rd, 2008 at 5:31 am
People like you used to annoy me but now I’m starting to drive slower just to save that little 10%. It can be a hard change to make for some, especially those who have trouble being on time normally.
May 23rd, 2008 at 7:19 am
@phil - heh. I used to annoy me too but after a few multi-hundred dollar tickets and higher insurance, it doesn’t matter. I’m still typically late or ‘right on time’ for many things, but I also now just call ahead. Yes, calling while driving - probably going to be against some law at some point, but I’ll call the people/place I’m meeting to let them know I’m running a few minutes late.
@cliff - I don’t really want the gov’t forcing a 55 mpg speed limit again. I’d think that after a few months of filling up people would do it on their own. A big issue is likely that people don’t see an immediate feedback while driving. Newer cars and hybrids have the realtime gauges which helps them monitor and adjust their driving habits ‘live’ so to speak. I bet if more people had those, we’d see radically slower driving immediately as people could see the benefits immediately. Perhaps the gov’t should just pay for those to be installed in everyone’s cars?
May 26th, 2008 at 1:13 am
A little greeting from little Norway here
Our diesel price is $9.89 for a gallon and we get a $300 fine if we’re talking in the cellphone while driving. People have started to take measures here as well to save money.
May 26th, 2008 at 6:38 am
@Geir - Wow! Is that $9.89 with the current exchange rate? That’s certainly expensive! That cellphone fine - does that include hands-free operation?
Are people driving really fast there still, or are most people driving slower to conserve energy now?
Thanks for checking in from Norway!
May 27th, 2008 at 12:15 am
@mgkimsal - $9.89 is with the current exchange rate and we love to shop electronics from the US at the time
We’re used with an exchange rate like 1USD = 7-8NOK, now it’s 1USD = 5NOK. We’ve always had expensive gas compared to the US, but the last year the prices has been raised with 50% (diesel). I guess that’s the about the same as you.
Regarding hands-free, we’re allowed to talk in the phone if it’s completely integrated with the car. The car radio must be automatically muted when you get an incoming call. It’s not enough with a blue tooth hands-free, the cellphone must be attached to the car or the car must have a separate sim card installed.
Our speed limit is actually 55 mph and it’s been that for as long as I can remember. Most people obey it, but there’s always those that don’t.