WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU DRIVE THE SPEED LIMIT? SOME SAMPLE MATH.

DOES DRIVING THE LIMITS REALLY SAVE DOLLARS, NOT JUST PENNIES?

Let’s suppose you live in California and drive a 25 mile roundtrip to/from work each day. 50 weeks a year, five days a week. That’s 6250 miles a year, just commuting.

Let’s guess you drive 20 of those miles on the freeway – that’s 5000 freeway miles. The posted speed limit is 55 in some spots, 65 in others, but like everyone else you routinely drive 70.

The average car/truck on the American road gets 17 MPG. That means your freeway driving uses 294 gallons of gas annually. At $3/gallon (sometimes more, sometimes less), that’s $882.

What happens if you set your cruise control at 60 mph?

If you study the links below, you’ll learn that a 10 mph drop in your average speed will result in a 4 MPG savings. That’s almost 25%! You’ll save about 73 gallons, or $220 per year just on your commuting. Since the average driver puts 12,000 miles per year on his/her car, we can double that number to 150 gallons/year or nearly $500/year in savings. Per driver/car. If you’re a two-car family, you’re now saving 300 gallons/$1000 every year.

That’s two or three car payments – or more. Or a flatscreen TV. Or a vacation at the beach!

By the way, this formula applies even if you drive a hybrid or high-mileage compact. If you are a hard-core speeder, you’ll save more – MUCH more. If you drive a pickup or SUV, you’ll be the biggest winner, percentage wise.

Forget a National Speed Limit. Keep your SUV! Just slow down.

Change Your Driving Habits. Change the World.