Eco Driving ?!?

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2007/01/30145725

Some of these arent really practical especially in cities. If its hot your going to use the air con if you have it. If its a cold morning your going to warm the car up first. If your stuck in congestion your going to be ready to move quickly otherwise others will take advantage if you're being overly cautious (turning the engine off).

Why not limit speeds on all new motor vehicles OR make automatic transmissions compulsory OR ban aircons ??

I think they are a very good set of suggestions and I already do a lot of them. My A/c is so fierce that I run it for about 2 minutes then turn it off for ten but it's still more fuel efficient than opening the windows and increasing the drag.
I think your comment about other drivers taking advantage is spurious - they won't get there any quicker or you any slower for turning off your engine.

And automatic cars are generally much less fuel efficient than manuals but I do find that proactive use of cruise control really improves my fuel efficiency.

Not spurious, being realistic. I drive in city centres a lot where you have to fight for every inch of space. Today if you give an inch, people will take a yard, therefore 'idling the engine' is a neccessity rather than a luxury. If you live in an area where you can follow the advice, absolutely fine.

These look pretty sensible to me, after all have caveats e.g. if you anticipate being there "for a minute or two", or on the air con.

Revs is a good un too..I will try not to over rev tomorrow..! Achieving 55 mph on my commute would be an achievement in itself..!

WormThatTurned wrote:

Not spurious, being realistic. I drive in city centres a lot where you have to fight for every inch of space. Today if you give an inch, people will take a yard, therefore 'idling the engine' is a neccessity rather than a luxury. If you live in an area where you can follow the advice, absolutely fine.

You know something Wormy, if you relaxed and stopped fighting all the other drivers you might put another 5 years on your life expectancy as well as a lot of mpg.

Do you really get there any earlier for being aggressive? Personally I'd rather take a warm and fuzzy moment for letting some other over-stressed driver get a break once in a while than drive up the exhaust of the guy in front.

On a separate issue, when I do my weekly commute up to Manchester (130 miles) driving at 70 or driving at 85 makes no more than 10 mins max difference to when I get there but about 15% dif on my fuel consumption. With a combination of long and short journeys, I'm still getting 50 mpg in a big heavy car.

Get real

I find driving at 85 gets me where I want to be a hell of a lot faster And an extra 10 minutes is a lot!!

driving 70 miles an hour at a constant 70 or a constant 85 over 65 miles each way IS ten minutes max...as Koshka rightly says on her trip.

Reality is no one can sustain that constant mileage for the entire distance unless they live at a motorway slip road and work at another 65 miles away..

Most of us do not do anything like that distance...so if those that do actually do the distance (which is by far the exception for a commuter at least) can only save 10 minutes max, then someone like me who drives a third of that each day (at the moment...watch this space) can save 3 minutes....which is not a lot, considering safety of self, and other road users....and the environment...!!

Or maybe the difference is that I pay for my diesel and perhaps you don't Wormy? If I was driving a white van and someone else was paying for the fuel maybe I'd put my foot down BUT if I had a young child at home I'd be more interested in:
1. not losing my license and income by being caught speeding
2. keeping calm and not getting so het up that I'm dead on the ground with a heart attack after trying to do the dad's race at sports day
3. keeping my emissions down so there's still a planet for junior to enjoy.

I also didn't believe that driving slower gets you there at almost the same time but it's true. And not letting anyone out to sit in front of you in a line of traffic definitely doesn't get you to your destination significantly earlier (and no nice ladies will wave at you to say thank you - you'll just get a different set of hand gestures)

When he's driving down hill, my father, bless him, takes his car out of gear and just coasts along to save fuel. Is that one of the handy tips?

Surprisingly...it isn't...funny that...

I dont get het up, never have done, Im one of the most laid back people you will ever meet. I do speed though (works vehicle and own vehicle), but I always have done even before I became a dad, but I dont speed irresponsibly. And I do force my way out in slow moving traffic becuase If I sat for someone to let me out Id be sat there all day. Thesedays selfish driving forces you to become equally selfish. Vicious Circle I suppose. The problem is there isnt enough space to accomodate the amount of cars wanting to use the roads. The trouble with you Koshka and Ive noticed it many times, you make assumptions about people and more often than not, your wrong.

koshkha wrote:

2. keeping calm and not getting so het up that I'm dead on the ground with a heart attack after trying to do the dad's race at sports day

If you are not dead on the ground with a heart attack in the deads race at sports day then you are just not trying hard enough IMO!

dididave wrote:

If you are not dead on the ground with a heart attack in the deads race at sports day then you are just not trying hard enough IMO!

blimey...dads race is competitive where you are

helencbradshaw wrote:

dididave wrote:

If you are not dead on the ground with a heart attack in the deads race at sports day then you are just not trying hard enough IMO!

blimey...dads race is competitive where you are

Yep, you should see me take my flip flops off and do my Zola Budd around the stone littered track.

plipplop wrote:

When he's driving down hill, my father, bless him, takes his car out of gear and just coasts along to save fuel. Is that one of the handy tips?

It probably doesn't save any fuel but it's bloody dangerous as he'll have very little control of the car. Not to be recommended at all.

Actually, it's on a par with drivers in India who turn off their headlamps at night to 'save' on lightbulbs.