Have high fuel costs changed the way you drive? Poll results/discussion

Winky,_The_House_Elf

After camping I went to put back in the 3 chairs in the back of my 307sw, when I realised just how heavy they were. As Its only ever my 2 dogs in the back I decided just to put the one back (Just in case!) and I have noticed a real difference in my petrol usage!

W_s_n

I voted J. My driving instructor taught me to be smooth.... I also did a track day a few years ago, and the intructor told me to be smooth with the steering... too much lock is not good.

Coveredinbees!!!!

tonycree wrote: »

one thing to consider here
when you're doing your 56mph on the motorways;
hgv drivers...
we have limiters -
it is annoying when a driver is plodding along
and we're trying to overtake and they're sat there -
thinking they're clever, being fuel efficient, snarling up the road...
saving 'nowt' really...
do 60, get in the middle lane
and give the rest of us frustrated drivers a little bit of stress-free...
thx.

Regardless of your speed if the left lane is empty use it and don't middle lane hog!!!!!

DanB_2

i voted K. i would love to drive all happy, but the traffic, the queues, the people cutting you up, the people driving an inch from your bumper, people from the last 2 swearing and trying to start a fight if you beep all makes it too stressful to drive less aggressively. most stressful of all is the category most people here are prone to fall into... the driving under the speed limit. This causes massive anxiety in the average driver. Even worse is if you zoom away from the lights or join a road only to then slow everyone else down. AAAaarg.

Mind you... with the amount of speed cameras and police (waiting at the bottom of hills with speed guns) I don't blame people for being cautious, but lets fight the causes of stress on the road, so we can all chill out a bit!

It is a real shame that we cant make a start and make a central reporting system for unmanned roadworks. Im sure that would unify all drivers!

soyabean

I haven't voted- I have changed to a less aggressive style of driving and get home feeling less stressed. But thats not because of the price of fuel directly, it's because I had a go at Martins 'holiday style' of driving and saw what a difference it made. Has anyone tried to drive like this in London? It's ok out here in pointy head land!

economiser

I have cut my maximum speed to 60 mph out of town as far as possible and have saved nearly 20% on fuel at the cost of about +5% in time taken (3 mins/hour).

exup

I have started cycling to work more now - but thats got nothing to do with the fuel crisis - of course that helps with fuel costs but it was more to do with getting back in shape after an achilles injury.

Myrdyn

Hi All.. new kid on the block - Excellent site. Heard Martin on Radio 2 and couldn't resist.

I had to vote 'B'.. However, my most significant change was to downgrade from a 2.0 litre car to a 1.3 litre model. This option should perhaps have been listed.

ceridwen

Well...the thought that strikes me from this is that people dont care unless they are the one paying for the fuel.

Hmmmm.....the Government obviously needs to find a way to deal with company cars so that EVERYONE cares about fuel usage.:cool:

withabix

ceridwen wrote: »

Well...the thought that strikes me from this is that people dont care unless they are the one paying for the fuel.

Hmmmm.....the Government obviously needs to find a way to deal with company cars so that EVERYONE cares about fuel usage.:cool:

The govenment needs to find a way to deal with COMPANIES so that they don't expect their company car drivers to get from A to B at the maximum permissible speed (or higher!!) or expect them to travel in their OWN TIME.

Don't blame us just because we don't pay for our own fuel!!! :mad:

If there weren't so many idiots on the road - including car, van and lorry drivers - who don't understand the correct way to drive on a multi-lane road (KEEP LEFT AT ALL TIMES EXCEPT WHEN ACTUALLY OVERTAKING), then there wouldn't be so much congestion, unnecessary acceleration and deceleration and we would ALL get to where we are going more economically and in better time!!!

The outside lane is not reserved for speeding.
The middle lane is not reserved for 60mph drivers.
The left hand lane is not reserved for HGVs.

You are supposed to drive as far left AS POSSIBLE.