Halfway Through Tank Update

The needle passed through the halfway point yesterday on my way home,
indicating the Mighty Corolla had gone about 270 miles up to that point.
I have not officially started tracking this statistic, but remember my
last tank was under 250, but the one before that was also closer to 270.

That was the tank of 42 mpg, if I remember correctly.

It may turn out that this halfway point could be a useful statistic,
although it's not a concrete moment, such as the low fuel light coming
on and staying on.

Indeed, there is plenty of opportunity to be dishonest in recording the
halfway point of a tank. The needle was slightly below the halfway mark
when I got home. I used the car to go to a few stores last night, and
this morning I left the house with almost 278 miles logged, and the
needle was a touch above the halfway mark. I did not use 278 as my
number because it feels like cheating.

But who is to say what the honest answer is? The needle fluctuates a
little bit going up and down long steep hills.

All I know right now is that the last time I remember this halfway
number being high like 270, I got great mileage.

Keep hoping and working towards creating light and/or smooth flowing
traffic!

Hurry Up and Wait!

There were several opportunities over the weekend for me to observe the
continuing phenomenon of "hurry up and wait," also known as "gas still
doesn't cost enough."

I am driving north on a 4-lane road and there are two stoplights before
the T-intersection where most everybody turns right to get onto a 6-lane
road. Speed limit = 45.

I see the stoplight ahead is red at the gas station, so I ease up on the
gas and slow down as I coast to the stopped cars. This is usually a
very long light with green turn arrows that last too long. After
waiting for my turn, the light goes green and our two lanes press
onward. A little red Cavalier with one of those "brrrapppp!" mufflers
rips up behind ans weaves past me (I am in the slow lane and he darts
past in the fast lane).

A quarter mile later, we're again stopped at a red light by the fire
station. Another quarter mile will be a two-lane right turn to get on
another main road. Most people get in the right hand lane because that
is the only lane that can turn right on red.

Out light turns green and the brrrapppp! Car zips away, around a couple
other cars and stops ahead in the LEFT lane waiting to turn right. Sure
enough, my lane turns right on red and I catch up with him slowly.
Again.

As I turn the corner, the light turns green for us all to turn right,
and the brrrappp! Car whips around and takes off as fast as his little
economy engine can go. He changes lanes twice and then swerves way into
the left lane-- a left turn only lane that again is controlled by a left
turn light. Of course, this light is red for him as well.

I continue on my way and cruise on past him as he waits for his light to
turn.

I wonder why people like this continue doing things like this. If I
drove like that, I certainly would be extra frustrated at the sight of
the very same people I flew past moments earlier, flowing by me in the
main body of traffic as I wait in a turn lane.

How embarrassing.

What makes it worse for this guy, in my opinion, is that even with all
those flashy traffic moves, he's still just in a Cavalier.

Of course, I am in just a Corolla, but I don't try to zip around in it
like it's a Corvette.

Maybe this guy likes the feeling of acceleration, but at $2.50 a gallon,
it's not worth it.

Smart Driving?

As I travel along in the interstate on my commute, or even around town,
my eyes tend to wander as far ahead as possible, and if traffic is slow,
I adjust my speed accordingly ahead of time. If there are lots of brake
lights, I try to guess how long it will take me to get there, how long
the congestion might last.

And I usually ease up on the gas and let physics take over to slow me
down a bit so that I don't need to brake too much, and if all goes well,
by the time I reach the backup, it won't be as bad as it was when I
first saw it.

There are three lanes on the interstate on my commute and normally I'm
in the slow lane. As I adjust my speed, there are (at times) other
drivers who zip right ahead in the other lanes and get stuck in the very
same congestion ahead of us. Lots of times, by the time I get up there,
I catch back up to the people who buzzed on past earlier.

It seems to me that my way is better. I don't understand speeding along
and continuing to press on the gas just to catch up with slower cars.
It seems to me that maintaining some sort of steady speed is better for
everyone in the long run. I feel that in my own way I am helping the
cars behind me to maintain speed and lessen the stop/go/stop/go
accordion action ahead.

Maybe I am turning onto one of those people that most other drivers
hate.

But wouldn't everyone rather maintain one speed instead of starting and
stopping and starting again in bursts? Yes, sometimes it's a steady
speed that's (shudder!) below the posted speed limit, but I'd rather go
60 and not stop than go 75, hit the brakes and slow to 30, and hit the
gas again to speed up to 70 just to hit the brakes again.

I argue that maintaining a steady speed helps us all, and also promotes
better fuel economy and probably less maintenance on our cars,
particularly in the brake area.

And it doesn't seem to make my commute any slower than if I were to
drive like a lunatic and swerve in and out of the lanes to get ahead.
Indeed, I often see those maniacs who pass me stopped in the fast lane
ten miles later as I putter on byin the slow lane.

It's just my thoughts on things today.

Commuting Tactics and Gas Prices

After I get off the interstate on my way to work, I travel for about two
miles on "surface streets" that have two lanes going in each direction.
These roads have a speed limit of I guess 45 mph, and there are
stoplights at regular intervals.

Most drivers tend to want to go the same direction on the roads, as the
streets flow towards the interstate. I use these streets to parallel
the interstate to my place of work, as there are occasional traffic jams
I can avoid by exiting two miles earlier than my true exit.

Every day I am passed by a few cars who apparently like to accelerate
briskly and weave around people who are driving normally. Most of the
time, they end up stopped at a traffic light and I sneak up beside them
in the other lane and we wait together.

I thought it was common knowledge that accellerating and idling at
stoplights are big wasters of fuel that drag down your fuel economy.
Apparently this fact is lost on many Americans, as there is no shortage
of people like this who absolutely love speeding up as fast as they can
just to get to the next stoplight quicker than me.

I wonder if these people are among those who complain that gas prices
are too high.

One of the easiest things you can do to reduce the money you must spend
on gas is to drive smarter to use less gas. I have travelled almost 600
more miles this year than last year (January to August), yet have only
used about six more gallons of fuel over these stretches of time.

I have actually spent just about $2.00 more on gasoline over these
periods of time.

It bothers me to see in the media that people are "outraged" over gas
prices, yet daily I see them driving like price is no concern.

My conclusion is that gas prices still are not high enough for people to
actually change their driving habits. Sure, sales for smaller, more
fuel efficient cars is up, but I believe peoples' driving habits remain
the same.

I believe that if everybody just drove smarter, fuel use would plummet
dramatically. But in order to drive smartly, we all must be conscious
of our gas consumption, and in order for that to happen, gas prices need
to go up dramatically. It's not enough to switch to smaller and more
efficient vehicles is we're just going to continue driving like crazy
people.

The Mighty Corolla consistently beats the fuel economy on the window
sticker. It totally beats the "new ratings" as well. I doubt most
americans can say that.

Please drive smarter.

Tank 130 - 5 September 07

This morning I pumped in 11.550 gallons at my local Costco, after
driving 427.1 miles. This made for average fuel economy of "just" 36.98
mpg for this tank. A seemingly considerable letdown after my previous
tank where I achieved, on paper, fuel economy of 42.01 mpg.

Should I be saddened by this huge dropoff in fuel economy? I think not!
This is still higher than my overall mileage (since we bought the car),
and historically, me fuel economy is always lower the tank AFTER I
manage to get a high mileage number.

The big question is: how can I consistently achieve fuel economy numbers
that are higher than, say, 39 mpg? Conceivably, I drive about the same
way each time I am in the car. Really, this may not be so.

In addition to driving to and form work on the interstate, the Mighty
Corolla is also used around town on the weekends, usually in heavy
traffic with much idling and waiting around at stoplights and in slow
traffic. This has a sapping effect on fuel economy. If a tank of gas
stretches over two such weekends, I must make my commute that much more
efficient to make up for it.

Likewise, some trips home are in very heavy traffic which also messes up
my mileage number.

It seems that many factors are out of my control.

I don't have any data that tracks the number of weekends covered by a
particular tank of gas, but I suppose I can figure this out, since I
have the dates of every time I have ever put gas in the car, and can
easily figure out weekends if I put in a little time. But I am feeling
lazy right now and don't want to do that.

But I will continue to drive as smartly as possible, staying within the
reasonable flow of traffic on my journeys. It's important to not stick
out like the obvious grandma driver as to not impede traffic flow too
much-- I think that would mess things up more overall if I drove just to
look out for my own fuel economy numbers!

Last September, I had tanks ranging from 36 to 37.55 miles per gallon.
My goal is to beat that this year, and I am confident I can do that.

Blog Stats - and a Brush with Fame!

It's cool to see that readership is way up on days when I post
something, and is practically zero when I don't post anything for a
couple of days. Of course, readership is practically nothing to begin
with, si I don't mind.

I like knowing that I can go back and read my own thoughts on my own
time.

But ask me to keep a journal or diary and I'll tell you to jump in a
lake! Which is odd, because a blog is just like a diary only there's no
paper.

I'll be refueling tomorrow and will have new stats at that time.

Last Friday I went to the dentist. No cavities (yay!). In the waiting
room, my dentist has a picture of him with Jeff Gordon, and a few other
autographed pictures from celebrities, athletes mostly.

I asked him about this and he said he worked at a "bleaching center"
after dental school, and Jeff Gordon was a customer one day. He is one
full head taller than Jeff Gordon. So now I know how much taller I am
than Jeff Gordon, so that was neat.

I like my dentist. He's on his own, jusy him, a hygenist and a
receptionist. He calls his practice "Big Smile Dental." It's friendly
and the people are nice and relaxed.