Another Post About Gas Prices

Congress returns from a two-week recess today with the rising price of gasoline on the agenda.  The price at the pump has climbed more than thirty cents a gallon in the last month and now hovers just below the $4.00 per gallon level, according the Triple-A's Fuel Gauge Report.  Many lawmakers have seized the opportunity to push for more offshore drilling.  But lost in the politics is the simple fact that we Americans can use less gasoline, thereby saving us money no matter how much it costs.

One of the easiest ways to use less gas...slow down.  It has been proven mathematically that driving faster makes a car less efficient...it's called the road load power equation. Road Load Power = av + bv² + cv³. I'll spare you the math since I don't entirely understand it myself. Here's the synopsis from The Discovery Channel's "How Stuff Works."

"A hypothetical medium sized SUV that requires 20 horsepower at 50 mph might require 100 horsepower at 100 mph."

Having now read that, I know that the guy rocketing down I-264 at 80mph at 4am is expending more fuel and spending more money getting where ever it is he's going than I am.

As the family's "Captain Slow," I'm occasionally made fun of for my slow (careful) driving style.  For me, it's about comfort behind the wheel.  Driving at 60mph in a 55 zone makes me less likely to ride up on another car's bumper, gives me more room to maneuver and more time to react.

That doesn't mean you should drive like a turtle and get in everybody's way.  Research done in the 1960's showed that people who drove at about the average speed of others were involved in the fewest accidents.  The accident rate goes up both for faster drivers and for slower drivers.

Links:

More efficient driving tips from the EPA

The How Stuff Works article

AAA's Fuel Gauge Report

The Solomon Curve article on how speed relates to accident rates.