Angry About Gas Prices?

Are you angry about the soaring cost of gas? If you take that anger out behind the wheel, you could actually end up spending even more on gasoline.  

Driving tests done by the popular automotive site Edmunds.com showed that angry, aggressive drivers typically engage in habits that waste fuel, such as speeding, stop and go driving, and racing up to red lights or intersections, then slamming on the brakes.  

Every time you touch either the brake or gas pedal, the fuel in your gas tank turns into heat energy. Rapid acceleration floods the engine with extra gas, causing the car to burn excess fuel. And riding the brakes causes the vehicle to waste the energy used to get it up to speed. Rapid acceleration and braking waste so much fuel it can actually lower your gas mileage by more than 20%. 

By the same token, speeding uses more energy than driving at a slower, constant speed.   

All this means that angry, aggressive drivers who speed, tailgate and brake hard will pay a penalty at the gas pump when they have to fill up more often than calmer drivers who maintain a steady cruising speed and avoid unnecessary acceleration and braking. 

Most drivers don’t realize how much money their aggressive driving habits may be costing them. But a new study taking place in Denver, Colorado is betting that once drivers actually see the connection between their bad driving behavior and the consequences at the gas pump, they’ll make changes. 

The study installs a device in volunteer’s vehicles that record every fast start, every hard brake, every too-fast turn around a corner. Monitors in the cars give drivers real-time feedback on how they’re doing. The study will determine whether or not drivers who see actual evidence of their bad driving habits will be motivated to change. 

The idea of real-time monitoring of fuel consumption is one embraced by a new breed of drivers called “hypermilers,” drivers who try to squeeze every last ounce of efficiency out of the fuel they burn. They typically drive with monitors and devices that give them instant feedback on how modifications to their driving habits as well as their vehicles affect fuel efficiency. 

The study, being done in Denver, Colorado, is aimed at finding ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by altering the habits of drivers who waste fuel. But because angry, aggressive drivers are one of the leading causes of accidents, it’s hoped that motivating them to change will pay back benefits in reduced accidents and deaths, as well.  

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