Gas Prices and Driving Speeds

How sad is that. If you think you have to race with someone off the line at a stop light to prevent them from changing lanes in front of you.

Actually some other terms come to mind but I won't use them here!!

So, maybe it's a good thing that you drive a hybrid.

Dear AO,

My brother tells me that the difference between the mild hybrid (as in the Honda Civic) and the true hybrid (as in the Prius) is that the true hybrid can operate on battery only. He has certainly tested the Prius although accidentally. I do not know if his theory is correct about the mild hybrid.

I am also not sure if it is a good idea to run the Prius on battery alone but it did get him to the petrol station battery power.

david

It was just an example that if you ever need the speed, it is not there. Like if you are in an intersection and there is a runaway truck coming, you will not make it out of the intersection if you step on the gas.

Gas still has to go up a few more bucks a gallon before I would consider a hybrid. The performance sucks and you can buy lots and lots of guzzolene before you offset the crazy price of one of them.

I have to admit they are finally starting to make nicer looking hybrid cars since the day of the ugly duckling Prius. I'm not one to worry about oil, like I've said before, lets start pumping the oil out of Iraq there is plenty there, I'm not very green.
I do believe we should develop fuel cells just to stick it to the Middle East and Big Oil. Until then use oil as you feel you can afford, if you can afford to go cross country in a 32 foot motor home pulling a 68 Mustang Boss with a 351 Cleveland engine, more power to you, just be sure to blast your air horns and make that Prius move to the right since chances are he's only going 50 mph

Bob

Was on the GSP in NJ today speeders weaving in out just to get to the shore or they have have to go badly and they're heading for the rest stop, does weaving save gas?

If you have to go badly you have gas to spare!

Ask and ye shall receive.

http://www.energybulletin.net/node/4638

A lot of data out there and depending on the date of the data it varies. Go back a few years and it was 7-8. This is 2005 and the pattern has been to increase since at least 1983 according to one study.

As to nuclear power, check out this article and quotes. http://www.lvrj.com/news/21251469.html

This is the fence sitting that allows a politician to say he is favor of something but then throws up so many obstacles that it cannot be done. Ever been to the area around Yucca Mountain? I have and it's not in anybody's backyard. You might note that he does not define where he would consider acceptable, just what is not. That's a no in my book.

As far as Crist is concerned, he has changed his position and supports McCain on this one

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/state/epaper/...

Final comment: Bush kills executive order outlawing offshore drilling and in 2 days price of crude drops from 143 to low 130's. Coincidence? Wonder how far it would drop if Congress would get off dead center and pull their ban?

I'll be off to MN this weekend and plan on setting the Cruise Control at the posted speed limit. It will be interesting to see what everyone else is doing.

Geez, oil's down $15 per barrel over the last few days. I'm still waiting for the price to drop at the pump

That isn't going to happen until big oil gets what they want, not what they need, but what they want...

We all make choices in our lives.........

I have noticed that most people still are running over the speed limit in IL and MO although 90mph seems to be a thing of the past. WI has slowed down significantly with those around Milwaukee driving at the speed limit. I don't know if gas prices or fear of police have had the most affect but I don't see near the number of people driving 20+ over any more. In fact, I generally have slowed down to only 10 over or so. Good thing I guess although when in Germany, I enjoy going about 140-150 MPH as often as I can.(I don't paying for the gas!)

Just worry the government solution will be to roll back to 55 for us to "save gas" again.

When the speed limit was 55, no one obeyed it anyway. It was the most ignored law since Prohibition. It probably did slow things down though by keeping lead-foots from going 75 or more. And most people stayed below 70. Not a bad idea. And I think that it did save a lot of fuel and lives, too.

Western burbs of chicago here!!

Not many have 'slowed down'.. And those that have are doing nothing more than backing up traffic and ticking off other drivers.
If your gonna be doing that, drive on the shoulder or get off the road!
Heck.. My daily driver is my 'street car'. Its just a lil 1998 494HP Pontiac Formula. 11.60 in the 1/4 mile and I even drive in the winter. Hehehehe
My MPG isnt exactly Honduh like.
But I'm not gonna drive 5-10mph slower to save 3 dollars while screwing up all the traffic. If you want to save those few dollars try passing on that daily cup of yuppy starbucks junk. Try not buying that 2 dollar bottled water (Just filtered and not any different from your tap). Try buying your next peice of clothing that doesnt cost 3 times as much so you can have the 'luxury' of 'advertising' for that 'hip and cool' brand name. You know what I mean. Same shirt 10 bux, slap a 'big name on it'..30 bux. You pay more and become a billboard. Brilliant!
Sorry, but the 'high and mighty' that dictate to slow down to save a few bux are the same ones buying junk that I for one consider not just wasteful, but downright stoopid.
You waste your money on your junk, I'll drive how I please because regardless of price, I'm still paying for it.
Course this is just my .02

Whatever floats your boat! The bad news is I drove 150 miles last week, the good news is I used 3.00 gallons of fuel to do it

I just returned from Atlanta (200 miles round trip). Took 4.1 gallons......

Joel

My trip to Atlanta (1200 miles, round trip) that starts (hopefully) tomorrow should take about 17 gals. That's ~ 70 MPG. Not much space to take stuff along though.

Okay, so you really think one refinery can cause these problems we have today? Lets talk and get some facts.

Along the gulf coast there is not one refinery. We have 5. During Katrina we only lost we petroleum rack where we pick up gas. Gulfport Mississippi. Yes the two in New Orleans were closed but that was due to our wonderful corp of engineers. We had other refineries operating within several days. Two racks do not effect what is going on. By the way I believe the Gulf is producing more natural gas then oil.

Gas is going up for two reasons in my opinion.

We are at the begining of our recession!

The gasoline trading market is out of control.

There is plenty of capacity and we have more oil then ever. What we really need is for those mideast contries to thank us by giving us a year or two of free oil for cleaning up those areas for them.

TTFN

AHA.... You are on a motorcycle. I was in a car, with lots of room for "stuff", and I arrived with no bugs on my teeth!

Joel

Bugs on pants but not in teeth. Windshield.....and helmet!!

Imagine this, The US coming up with a plan like this to force people to save gas instead.

To relieve traffic congestion in China during the Olympics; China issued a forced ban on vehicles with license plates in odd numbers on certain days requiring you to use mass transpo then even numbers on the other days. If you are caught driving on the wrong day you will be fined.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/07/20/pollution.olympi...

China is not the first. Plans similar to that have been in place for sometime in some other places.
London and Tokyo come to mind but I don't remember the details.

Dear Paul,

I was under the impression this measure was to provide some mitigation to the awful air pollution in that city. Putting athletes in this environment is completely irresponsible and wholly consistent with the legacy of the loathsome Avery Brundage.

david

Where I live if you see a bus, you can bet somebody stole it from somewhere.

Yes, that is what they are doing in China but my thought was to imagine if the US did something like this to try and slow the use of gas.

If you're going to do 55 in a posted 65 or 70, take the side roads please.

I have no AC and still get less then 20 MPG. And I do roll down all the windows when hot. I don't speed on the freeway because my truck doesn't go over 65 without complications and that is only downhill. Gas prices are a problem but when does it pay to buy new vehicle when my truck is already paid for and has no resale value but run great?

May I add. I worked for an ambulance service 13 years before retirement. In all of that time, the largest percentage of people (I am not being sexist here at all) that ignored or refused to yield to my unit were women in suv's, talking on the phone. There is an obsession with big gas guzzeling machines that says "look at me, I can do as I please". Rudeness runs rampant in our society and there seems to be no way to return to the days of civil politeness.

Yes, please PLEASE!

Not only is it dangerous but if it causes a problem for other vehicles trying to travel at or below the speed limit, in many juristictions it is ILLEGAL.

Henry, I couldn't agree more. I just replaced the brakes in my 2002 P/U. I had 132k miles on the truck, and those were the original brakes. Nobody can believe me, and the place that did the work was impressed. Of course, I also have a standard, so it helps with the braking since I can use the engine to help slow me down. Automatics eat up gas, brakes, and don't last as long as a manual transmission.

Good luck all, and keep it smooth.

Alan

Minimum speeds on most highways is 40 or 45 mph. As long as you are above that, you can drive on the highways. I agree driving too slow is dangerous, but we all need to be patient and understanding when passing slower cars, or trucks. In IL, trucks and RV's can only do 55, where everyone else can do 70. I didn't like it, but I can tell you I noticed a big difference in my gas mileage.

Alan

Why do you seem so surprised? This is America after all. I've driven in many states with speed limits from 55 to 75. No matter the speed "limit" the majority of drivers seem to settle in at around 80-85 MPH with a small percent going faster, and most (but not all) truck traffic staying to the right and going a little slower, closer to the speed limit.

Where the speed limit is 55, a small percent of auto drivers will be going slower, from 55 on up, creating a dangerous situation and traffic jambs while being good, law abiding citizens. In areas where the speed limit is 70-75, the average drivers do not go any faster, but the slowest drivers are at least going the speed limit which means they are driving a lot closer to average speed of most drivers, and traffic flows a lot better. A speed limit only changes the behavior of the slowest drivers and higher speed limits create a safer highway environment by minimizing the effects of faster drivers converging on slower drivers.

Certainly, slower speeds produce less drag and better mileage. OTOH, this is America and people are free to spend their gas money as they choose. As you noted, we aren't all driving a Prius. If these same people can afford to drive a SUV, that is their business.

Most people do not go the speed limit because it doesn't seem natural to do so, and the highways can accommodate much higher speeds with reasonable safety. It becomes dangerous when faster drivers encounter slower drivers in the passing lanes where they shouldn't be. But too many people plod along in the far left lane, secure in their belief that they are obeying the law, and so should everyone else. Speed limit enforcement is used to generate money from fines and higher insurance premiums, so drivers hold the law in contempt and employ electronic countermeasures.

Rarely is any law enforcement effort aimed at slowing traffic to the speed limit. Instead, they choose to chase down one driver at a time to hand out a ticket, while the rest speed by. The police could easily slow all traffic to the posted speed limit with much less resources than they use to write citations, but it wouldn't generate the money they need. They could start by obeying the speed limit laws themselves. But like the rest of us, most cops drive fairly fast on the highway when it isn't necessary.

The argument that higher speeds only save a few minutes just doesn't wash either, except for very short trips. For someone driving around 350 miles, about the range of a tank of gas in your average SUV gas guzzler, at 85 MPH the trip is a little over 4 hours. Even at 65 MPH, it is more than an hour longer and at 55 MPH it will be over 6-1/2 hours. That is not an insignificant few minutes but a very significant 2 plus hours (or more than a 50% increase in travel time) on what should be a fairly short, non-stop highway drive.

What you are witnessing is evidence that although people will complain about gas at $4.00/gallon, it isn't high enough to cause them to alter their habits, or make any sacrifices. At some higher price point the fans of slower speeds will have their day, at least for a little while. When they start building high-mileage autos that also go fast, you will be right back in the way of the faster - majority - of drivers.

David Krump

I had noticed, around the 4th of July, that a lot of people had slowed down a bit on the Intestate Highways. I visited my daughter in Mobile and a lot of people were driving at or slightly below the posted 70 MPH limit, especially the truckers. However, a recent trip to the Atlanta airport, after prices dropped 10 or 15 cents, indicated that people were back to their old habits. I was blown off the road by at least 80% of the traffic I encountered, including truckers. I guess $4.00 per gallon causes people to conserve. Less than $3.80 per gallon and they're putting the pedal down. Strange.

Wonder if my personalized plate would be even or odd?

Slowing down, constant speeds and no jack-rabbit starts increased my mileage by almost 20% and I drive an SUV. A real-time MPG display helps too, you'd be surpised at how gas mileage suffers waiting at alight to make a left turn.

Dear Holy Medicine Man,

Something must have gone awry: that is not my quote. However, my Brooklyn Dodger plates should entitle driving every day in every place.

david

P.S. Please pass the peace pipe.

Hmm... maybe I should lay off the peace pipe if I continue to quote incorrectly.

*ponders how such a mistake could of happened when it isn't even Monday*

Hey pretend you drive for big brown!
Only make right turns. Sooner or later you would get where you wanted to go, I think.

Bob

You must be on a small one like mine. I'm also getting about 70 mpg on the highway.

Kawasaki Ninja 250R
Garmin Nuvi 350
RAM-Mount

I will be on 5000+ mile trip to east coast and back from middle of Canada. I will be doing speed limit(70-75 mph is plenty fast for us) in our 10 year old minivan. Changed oil to synthetic, pumped tire air pressure to slight over factory recommended setting for better mileage, used Seafoam to cleanse out engine and fuel system, and waxed it for "possible" better glide through the air. Using cruise control all the way if possible and sticking to right lane of interstate. With such a long distance to cover, every drop of gas counts.

You get on I-465 around Indy where the speed limit is 55 and I'll bet the average speed is 70-75.

I've always run my car tires at 40 psi and have gotten great mileage and no wear problems ever.

As a '84 900 Ninja rider, the rule for tires is to check the pressure cold in the morning, and after a 'normal' run, your pressure hot should not be more than +10% over cold. It's a racer's rule for stickiness, mileage and longevity. The same goes for cars.

Try it, you'll like it.

I made a recent trip to USA and seemed like I was the only one driving at 65-70mph. I was tired of getting the dirty look by everyone. Good that I had 20% tinting done

Phoenix to Northern California yesterday, nobody has slowed down! Had to drive 75 mph to keep from being a traffic hazard! Gas prices in California still above every other state! $4.399 a gallon!

N

The price of gas here is slowly coming down. I filled up my tank yesterday morning for $3.60 per gallon and topped it off last night at $3.55

Sorry for the rudeness of American drivers! Depending where you are from, I imagine you enjoyed the low prices that we have to pay for fuel.

Cheers.......... Joel

Is that 20% legal in your state? Here in Texas, we can only have 35% in the front, while no restrictions in the back.

Moon

After Katrina, it seems we're quite numb to high fuel prices. $3.39 back then was a shock. When gas peaked and well over $4 recently, nobody thought of carpooling, conservation, etc. It was really just a function of income, i.e. the gas bill is cutting into leisure so back off of driving, not figure out ways to conserve. An all or nothing game.

Now that fuel is cheap again LOL at 3.299 though it creeped up 2 cents yesterday, it's time to get back in that car and drive around with a single occupant. j/k

My car has 300HP and was rated epa 29 on the highway in MY2007 (I think it went down to 26 with the new standards in 2k8 but it gets around 29-30)--fuel is not really the issue, as a Hyundai does that better by only 2 mpg and what, 150-160 less HP? As the OP points out, it's more of a frame of mind that dictates behavior. Doesn't a GPS in itself encourage going places i.e. using fuel?

Where are you seeing gas for $3.29? In Chicagoland, we are at $3.85 or better. (September 2, 2008)

In Melrose Ma. area (4 miles North of Boston) as of 9/2/08 $3.45 per Gal.