Lower your stress AND save on gas
14 comments so far
I’ve noticed a weird phenomenon amongst highway drivers in Utah: they’re driving the speed limit, 65 mph. For those of you outside Utah, this is quite amazing as normally one has to go about 80 mph to keep from feeling like you’re going to be run off the road.
In an effort to save on gas, my wife and I have been driving slower too. After reading a number of articles on hypermiling I decided to change some other driving habits as well. In addition to ekeing out every last penny from our gas tanks, we’ve noticed a pleasant side effect: we’re much less stressed while driving.
Honestly, it’s kind of a weird feeling.
While I never felt that I was worked up or anxious before while driving, I now realize I wasn’t relaxed either. Now I am and I find it rather pleasant. You should try it. Below are four steps I’ve been incorporating in my driving. Give them a try and see if your stress level goes down while your fuel economy goes up.
1. Slow down. According to the federal Energy Department, for every 5 mph you drive over 60 mph, it costs you about 20 cents more per gallon . So all that time I was keeping up with traffic at 80 mph, I was spending the equivalent of nearly $5/gallon for my gas. (See here for more details.) Knowing that I’m no longer doing that is a wonderful feeling. Almost wonderful enough to make me not care about gas prices. Almost.
2. Leave early. Getting a bit of an early start will not only help your driving be less aggressive (consequently, saving gas) but does wonders for your stress level. If you can be organized enough to leave early it means you’re becoming more organized in your life outside your car. That’s a good thing.
3. Don’t accelerate quickly . I’ve been playing a game in the car. It’s called, "Keep My RPMs Below 2,500." It’s loads of fun (slight exaggeration) and keeps me from accelerating too fast. The obvious exception to this rule is when you’re getting on the freeway. I do enjoy the smooth shifting that comes from moderate acceleration - no jerking like you’re more prone to get at high RPMs.
4. Coast before braking. Don’t keep your foot on the gas until the last minute and then hit the brakes. As soon as you can tell you’re going to need to stop, start coasting.
Now, in interest of full disclosure, I’ve done some things in cars that may have been of dubious legality. (My preference is BMW but you’d be surprised what my little Nissan Altima is capable of.) Driving is fun and driving fast is even better. One of my goals in life is to drive a 6-speed BMW and actually need to use the sixth gear.
That being said, I’ve actually found that I enjoy driving more when I’m practicing these points. That’s not to say I wouldn’t take the opportunity to drive a 6-speed BMW if given the chance (do you know someone?), but for day-to-day driving I enjoy the overall experience of slow and steady quite a bit. Give it a try and let me know what you think.
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Thursday, June 26th, 2008 at 11:47 am and is filed under Efficiency, Environment, Transportation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
These are great tips, thanks! Perhaps Utah drivers are all originally from Arizona, where the comment about having to drive 80 to keep up with folks where the speed limit is 55 is also not an exaggeration.
As for the 6-speed Beamer … get all gussied up and go to a dealership. You might want to rent a fancier car than the Altima so they’ll take you seriously ;-)
I wrote an article on this recently too. It’s really on everyone’s minds because of the high gas prices. One of the things I discovered was that the whole “Don’t drive over 60″ thing is kind of a myth. If you have a high performance car, or a car built in countries without speed limits - the sweet spot is sometimes higher than 60 mph.
I find in my Volkswagen for instance that I get my best gas mileage at about 70mph. Of course, you can find your sweet spot in your car of choice if it has one of those little gas on screen displays.
I like the tip about leaving early. I’ve found this really helps me relax while driving and I can actually enjoy my surroundings more as I putt down the road.
Leaving early is the ultimate stress-killer. It’s really hard to get worked up when you’re almost hoping that your drive takes longer. I’d be curious to know whether playing calmer music has any impact on both driving stress and driving speeds. I’m not an aggressive driver by any means, but I’ll take corners a little faster if it’s a song with a driving beat.
I have a little problem with the statement “costs you 20 cents more per gallon” both in the post and the source article. It’s not that the gas costs anymore, it’s that you’re just burning through it faster and getting fewer miles on the gallon.
Otherwise the tips are great. I feel unsafe driving the posted speed limit (in Iowa it’s 70 mph) and getting passed by drivers going 85+ mph, so it may take nerves of steel to get it down to 60!
I am most relaxed driving at night under the stars with my convertible top down. AHHHHHHhhhhhh!
Leaving my lead-foot DH at home really reduces my stress–LOL!
I find myself applying some advice frommy high school drivers ed teacher (when we rode dinosaurs). He said always look way ahead and assume that the other drivers will do the most stupid and dangerous thing possible, so plan your reaction. This allows you to see the lights about to change, and coast in; to see that biker zooming in from a side street, and avoid hard braking; save gas all around.
I think it’s a good idea to play book tapes in the car so you feel like you’re using that time productively. A lot of your life is spent in a car transporting yourself from one place to another, so I think that the first question before leaving the house should always be: is there any way of having this come to me instead of me having to drive to it. This is an interesting topic.
Thanks everyone for the comments.
Lynn - You’re right that the gas isn’t costing any more, but you’re burning through it at a rate that’s equivalent to paying more for it. Keep up those nerves of steel!
Marelisa - Have you heard of Audible.com? They have audiobooks you can download to your iPod or burn to a CD - great for commuting.
If you want to save gas, stop driving like a maniac! ;-) Great tips… as always.
As a long time driver of a BMW I have always subscribed to the philosophy that “the journey is the destination”. I love the twisty bits and have enjoyed some stress free boughts of speed while the governess was asleep. But I have recently found myself intuitively deploying some of your suggestions, primarily for economic reasons. Thanks for the tips.
I can relate to Nimic and the “sweet spot”. On a recent trip to Las Vegas from Ogden, Utah I tried the 60 mph deal. Our 1995 Jaguar XJ6 averaged 25.6 to Nephi, Utah where my patience ran thin. I boosted it to 75 mph and the milage rose to 27.5 for the rest of the trip which got us to Vegas with four people plus luggage on the trunk mounted luggage rack (we love the Euro-trash look) on about 18 gallons. A/C was on at 72 degrees, cruise control never let the car downshift or slow on the hills. Yes, European cars rule the roads because they have to be efficient. No American car (I love my Taurus Wagon) Japanese or Korean car (really, with a national speed limit in Japan of 55 mph how good can their cars be?) can match the Jags artful 4 Liter, All-Aluminium, DOHC, 24 Valve, straight Six for power, smoothness and fuel efficiency. Oh yes, and gone are the days of Jaguar passing everything on the road except a gas station and a repair shop. The Ford improvements make the reliability of these cars rock solid.
Russ - Thanks for the comment. I must say your experience with Jaguars is completely opposite of everything I’ve heard about them, even since the Ford acquisition.
Yee-haa!
Hypermiling totally works. I have an older non-hybrid and tried this. Just a few of the techniques upped my mpg and saved m dinero too.
bp