Gas prices are chaging driving behavior

MercuryNews.com | 05/10/2006 | Chung: Going slower makes driver mighty mellow

Here's a positive spin on the rising gas prices. Seems like a lot of people are driving slower - at the optimum gas mileage speed of 55 mph. I'm sure that would lead to lesser gas consumption and a safer driving manner. But you have to remember that the posted speed limit on most bay area freeways is 65 mph and if a majority of the drivers slowed down to 55 mph we're going to have major congestion problems - on top of already congested freeways during peak rush hours. Already there are reports of hybrid drivers driving at 55 mph or less in the car pool lane and causing major angst to other car pool lane users. I won't be surprised if we see some major road rage incidents due to a lot of people driving ridiculously slow trying to maximize their gas mileage. As for me, I'll stick to the a couple of mph above posted speed limits.

Another thought here - if people really started driving slower, why would we need all these cars, trucks and SUV's with high output engines. I think almost 30% of all vehicles sold in USA are having V8 engines - that is really ridiculous. Even V6 is considered uneconomical and a sinful luxury in most European countries. I would imagine that family sedans like Camrys, Accords and others with the standard 4 cylinder engines would make most sense. Another thing I noticed about European driving -they are getting twice the mileage because they use a lot of diesel engines. I think the whole Hyprid thing is a mistake - diesel can get you all the benefits at lower cost and lower pollution.