Better M.P.G. Strategies

[Friendly Bear]

With gasoline approaching $3.50 per gallon BEFORE the height of the summer driving season, let's put our heads together to recite some methods for improving our gasoline mileage.

Try to be serious.

1.  Keep tires inflated to recommended inflation.

2.  If driving an older car, get the car a tune-up.

3.  Replace dirty air filters in your automobile engine.

4.  SLOW DOWN.  Excessive speeds burns excessive fuel.

5.  Anticipate your Stops.  I realize that Tulsa neighborhoods have experienced an explosion of 2-way, 3-way and 4-way Stop Signs beginning with the reign of Mayor Savage, placed for allegedly Traffic Calming purposes.  These stop signs have a collateral affect of generating ZERO M.P.G. when people have to stop so frequently.  

When you are stationary, you are getting ZERO M.P.G.  Doubleplus-Ungood.

6.  Remove excessive weight from the car.  Carrying unnecessary weight such as golf clubs, tool kits, etc. increases the car's overall weight, and reduces M.P.G.

7.  Combine your trips.  This helps save on excessive fuel use needed to warm up a car.

8.  Car Pool.  Is there a neighbor who works in your work location?  Can neighbors share the car pooling of neighborhood children?

9.  Ride mass transit. Put the kids on the school bus.  Take the bus to work.

10. If your neighborhood permits passage with suitable sidewalks, WALK for some of your shorter errands.

Any other ideas??

[?]

[waterboy]

11. Enjoy fresh air by turning off your a/c until the summer really heats up. Open two windows, one front-one back to keep the air from swirling around so much.

12. Avoid congested hospital parking garages where you have to circle around looking for a space or waiting for people who are really to old to drive. The open lots usually have lots of spaces.

13. Avoid peak driving times by arriving early to work. Plus your employer will be impressed as long as you don't leave early too.

[sgrizzle]

quote:Originally posted by waterboy


13. Avoid peak driving times by arriving early to work. Plus your employer will be impressed as long as you don't leave early too.

I think you need to strike the last part. I enjoy leaving almost 2 hours before rush hour.

[Ibanez]

14. Call the City of Tulsa daily and complain about the craptastic timing of the stoplights all over the city until they finally fix them.

[EricP]

15. When you see a line of 912 cars at McDonalds: park your gas guzzling SUV and walk your lazy donkey inside. Save money on gas, save the air and save yourself about 10 minutes of waiting in line with a bunch of lazy buffoons.

[cannon_fodder]

16. Take your smallest vehicle when possible.  If you own or have access to multiple vehicles, you don't always need to take the truck, your wife's car will do just as well most of the time.

[Friendly Bear]

quote:Originally posted by EricP

15. When you see a line of 912 cars at McDonalds: park your gas guzzling SUV and walk your lazy donkey inside. Save money on gas, save the air and save yourself about 10 minutes of waiting in line with a bunch of lazy buffoons.

I wonder how many gallons of gasoline are WASTED each year with cars waiting at restaurant drive-through windows?

Definitely just grab the first parking space you see, and walk into the store or restaurant.  

And, you'll save gasoline and also melt some excess body fat, too.

[Friendly Bear]

quote:Originally posted by waterboy

11. Enjoy fresh air by turning off your a/c until the summer really heats up. Open two windows, one front-one back to keep the air from swirling around so much.

12. Avoid congested hospital parking garages where you have to circle around looking for a space or waiting for people who are really to old to drive. The open lots usually have lots of spaces.

13. Avoid peak driving times by arriving early to work. Plus your employer will be impressed as long as you don't leave early too.

I seem to recall reading that at highway speeds, it may be more fuel efficient to actually run the air conditioner on hot days, rather than lose the aerodynamic contour of a car by rolling down the windows and increasing aerodynamic drag.

Any truth there?

[Friendly Bear]

quote:Originally posted by wavoka

14. Call the City of Tulsa daily and complain about the craptastic timing of the stoplights all over the city until they finally fix them.

Similar to the proliferation of the 2-way, 3-way, and 4-way stop signs, we've also seen a proliferation of Traffic Lights BETWEEN major intersections.

For instance, on 71st between Yale and Sheridan, there are 3 or 4 traffic lights at the Quick-Tripp and at entrances of various apartments.  

These are definitely gas wasters for through traffic.

[Breadburner]

17. Run Real gasoline..Mileage can be up to 20% less on some vehicles with ethanol blends..

18. Car pool...

[mrhaskellok]

quote:Originally posted by EricP

15. When you see a line of 912 cars at McDonalds: park your gas guzzling SUV and walk your lazy donkey inside. Save money on gas, save the air and save yourself about 10 minutes of waiting in line with a bunch of lazy buffoons.

Which McDonald's are you going!  912 cars in 10 minutes, thats a car every half second...I wait a good five minutes and sometimes more!
[]

[mrhaskellok]

19.  Install roundabouts city wide.  Safer and reduce emissions dramatically.  Costs less too to build and maintain.

[cannon_fodder]

quote:Originally posted by mrhaskellok

19.  Install roundabouts city wide.  Safer and reduce emissions dramatically.  Costs less too to build and maintain.

I disagree.

"Safer" for most people, because they are willing to yield to the more demanding people.  It is safety by terror (they are safer though), sane drivers fear for their lives while jackasses, the incompetent, and fops just swerve where they please.  Seriously, the things are chaos - the couple we have in town now are ridiculous and those are minimally used on 2 lane roads (no one grasps the concept that a blinker is VERY important on roundabouts or instead of yielding other traffic has to stop).

Not too mention they require at least twice the land of a standard intersection.  

Oh, and drunk women can't seem to avoid any fountains that may be at the center of them.

But the Kansas DOT agrees with you:

quote:Modern roundabouts are not the big, old traffic circles dating back to
around the 1900's, most of which were congested, confusing, inefficient and had neither poor
safety recording nor the small circles used for speed control as a "traffic calming" tool.

Kansas DOT, presentation at the Urban Street Symposium, Operational Efficiency of Roundabouts, 2003.

It does, however, caveat that busy multi lane intersections will likely see an increase in delays as well as the frequency of crashes (further increasing delays), but that the injury level related to such crashes will be less (since everyone is moving slower).  

But generally, the study approves.  Perhaps worth looking into more.
- - -

And AC is more efficient at highway speeds than opening your window.  We did an experiment in that regard in physics, and the results are mirrored all over the place (as are virtually all physics experiment any student will do).

[cannon_fodder]

20.  Avoid/remove speed bumps (increases fuel use more than 40% on that stretch of road)
http://www.theaa.com/public_affairs/news/20mph-roads-emissions.html

[waterboy]

Yeah, I can't stand the road noise of open windows at highway speeds. I'm sure the aerodynamics are slowing the car down. I was referring to city driving where its stop and go and the a/c drags the engine down badly.