More people follow highway speed limit?

[WhitePolarBear]

In a recent conversation people told me that they notice more people have slowed down on the interstate and drive close to speed limit around Houston. Granted, their references were based on the weekend traffic but that to me is significant for Houston area. My theory is people think about gas mileage a bit more and it's easier to ease up the gas on weekends at least.

Do you notice this as a new trend around your area as well?

[goofy1]

around lousiville, ky and southern indiana? hmmmm... by the amount of cars flying past me all the time i have to say no. not really. but this area is famous of lead foots

[Nate R]

In my state, the State Patrol has reported that average highway speeds are down 1 MPH this year. Doesn't sound like much, but it's a fair percentage when you consider we're talking a range of 50-80 MPH.

So, yes, people are slowing down in my area on average.

[joeventura]

Speaking for myself, Now I put the car in the right lane and hit the cruise control at a few miles about the speed limit.

This practice gets me 60-80 more miles per tankful.

[soletek]

Noticed people had slowed down going to work in the morning but were speeding on the way home in the Sacramento area. More seem to be learning speed kills gas mileage.

[1cheap1]

Some people are slowing down here in the Los Angeles area, but traffic is a lot lighter with people not making the trips they were doing before gas went up.

[WhitePolarBear]

When I see red lights ahead, I take my foot off the gas and slow down the car so I don't need to come to a complete stop. In the past when I did this, the people behind me will change lanes and raced to the end of the line. Nowadays, there are people still doing that but more and more seem to know what I am doing and they stay in the lane.

[GasSavers_JoeBob]

As far as I can tell, people are still flying along like usual. Especially the people with the little fish and kneeling kids on the backs of their cars.

[cobra marty]

In the Philadelphia area I feel that there is less traffic on the roads and I myself instead of driving in the left lane 75-80, I now drive in the right lane with the cruise control set at 55. I am averaging 27.1mpg combined city and highway by slowing down and accelerating and stopping easier.

I read that to go from 55 to 65 uses 12% more gas and to go 55 to 75 uses 25% more gas.

I put all my gas on a Shell credit card and my monthly gas bill has been the same for the last 3 years. I definately drive less and drive slower.

[GasSavers_ColonelPanic]

Originally Posted by goofy1

around lousiville, ky and southern indiana? hmmmm... by the amount of cars flying past me all the time i have to say no. not really. but this area is famous of lead foots

I'll second that! I commute from Indiana into Louisville, they're nuts around here. I stick to the right lane, 5 MPH or so below the limit and do my own thing while everybody else blows past me like I'm sitting still. Driving the speed limit appears to make everybody here mad, any slower and they become furious. Kinda gets under my skin too, I see the masses doing so many crazy moves that are getting them nowhere fast and are just wasting fuel, I don't get why they do it. *shrug*