Thread: Are You slowing down?

Read this in the Telegraph yesterday,


Average speed drops as the fuel price soars

By Richard Alleyne
Last Updated: 2:08PM BST 19/06/2008

Motorists faced with ever growing prices at the pumps are saving fuel by driving more slowly.

The average speed of traffic in free-flowing conditions on Britian's busiest motorways the M6 fell by up to 0.9per cent in the first half of June compared with the same period last year.
The figure applied to the M6 near Birmingham and the speed also fell by 0.3 on the London orbital the M25.
The small reduction in the average speed conceals a much larger fall because at the same time congestion fell dramatically, a natural prohibitor to speed.





The study by Keepmoving.co.uk, a traffic information service which monitors the speed of 230,000 vehicles fitted with sensors, concluded: "Whilst the decrease appears modest, it portrays a consistent picture across the UK where a cross-section of motorists are driving more slowly in order to conserve fuel."
The study also found that congestion had fallen by up to 12 per cent in the past month because there were fewer cars on the road.
The price of both petrol and diesel has risen by record margins in the past month, according to the AA. Average petrol prices increased by 5.61p per litre between mid-May and mid-June, while diesel shot up 7.39p. The average cost of petrol is 118.16p per litre. Diesel stands at 131.56p.
A separate study found that more than a third of motorists were wasting fuel by driving with under-inflated tyres.
The study, by the FIA Foundation on behalf of Bridgestone Tyres, checked tyres on almost 40,000 vehicles in 19 European countries over a two-year period and found the pressure was too low on 38 per cent of them.
Under-inflated tyres create additional rolling resistance, resulting in higher fuel consumption.

-------------------------------


I travel about 50 mile on the M56 every day, and must say that this has been noticable. I have dropped my usual speed of 80 - 85 mph down to 70 now.
Traffic has seemed much lighter and two spots, which on my route are usually notorious for hold ups, have been clear and have breezed through.

Have any of you noticed any differance in your part of the world, and what, if anything, have you done to conserve petrol?

Edit: and its gone up another bladdy penny per litre today

Cost 2,780 baht to fill my truck today.

I rarely exceed 20 kph except on the highway where I push it up to 30.

Originally Posted by Propagator

Have any of you noticed any differance in your part of the world, and what, if anything, have you done to conserve petrol? Edit: and its gone up another bladdy penny per litre today

yeap thought it was only me going about 50 instead of 60ish.
Also being very aware of gear control.

Its mad though i work in the industry and customers will soon moan about the price but still buy a drink sarnie and bar of choc

Im having to cut down on my Molotov cocktail hobby, I can only afford to 1/2 fill the milk bottles now.
I saw somethin the other day saying that diesel was around £1.30 a litre. Is that M/Way London or your average pump price?

Originally Posted by melvbot

Im having to cut down on my Molotov cocktail hobby, I can only afford to 1/2 fill the milk bottles now.

Wow you have bottles

Originally Posted by melvbot

I saw somethin the other day saying that diesel was around £1.30 a litre. Is that M/Way London or your average pump price?

£135.9 in my region...... crazy

I don't know if the traffic slowed down because on the strech of Autobahn I take daily there is a speed limit of 80 kph. What I realized is that the traffic is as dense as ever much to my annoyance. If they moan about the fuel price they should take the train and leave the street for the rest of us.

I have an Isuzu Trooper which is six years old, I have been noting my fuel consumption lately and have come to the conclusion that im using far to much , one of my last road trips was to Suphanburi witch from mine is dead on 52 miles...with the farting around we did during the day I clocked up about 130 miles so was pretty gutted to find when I got home that I had chopped through over 2k baht of diesel !