Fog Lights? More like Laser Beams!

It's usually dark when I drive to work. I take the interstate, and lots
of my fellow commuters join me every morning. We are all going in the
same direction at the approximate same speed. The road is smooth and
the path is predictable. We all know where we are going.

Why, oh why, then, to so many people absolutely insist on having their
fog lights turned on as well as their headlights? Seeing those fog
lights in the rear and side view mirrors is quite annoying, as the fog
lights are aimed such that they are reflected directly into my eyes. I
can only assume this is the case for other drivers as well, as I have
experienced this not only in the Mighty Corolla but also in the minivan.

It's not foggy out, so there's no need to shine these obnoxious lights
into the cars ahead.

I have driven with the fog lights on, and with them off, and the fog
lights really don't impress me as enhancing my visibility of the road.
And when you're on the interstate, it's pretty clear where you are
going, so it's not like you need any assistance seeing where you're
going to go. There's plenty of cars ahead to show you where the road is
leading.

There really is no apparent reason to have your fog lights on while you
are driving in rush hour commuting traffic.

Fog lights are annoying in this way. I can only conclude that people
who drive with their fog lights on as well as their headlights are doing
this to purposefully piss off everyone else ahead of them.

Tank 143 - 22 January 2008

It was 26 degrees at the Fredericksburg Costco this morning, as I
refueled the Mighty Corolla with 11.333 gallons of gas. This tank took
me 429.7 miles, which means that even in the cold weather the car
managed a respectable 37.92 miles per gallon.

Last January at about this time, my fuel economy was less than 34 miles
per gallon, but there's no way of telling whether the cold weather had
anything to do with it, as the temperature reading is a relatively new
data item.

Fuel economy in 2008 has been consistent over the first three tanks.
This is a little surprising, as my driving habits have drifted towards
inconsistency and higher speeds at times. Gas is more expensive, but
there's not much of a choice on that, unless I change jobs to a closer
to home job.

But I don't worry about that, as I like my job and don't mind too much
the commute, particularly now that I have discovered books on CD to
listen to as I drive to and from work.

There's nothing really that I can do to change traffic, so might as well
go with it and enjoy the time I'm in it. Books on CD are much better
than the radio, in my opinion.

One thing I also track is the length of time it takes me to get home
each day. Tuesdays average about 20 minutes less time to get home than
Fridays, I have gleaned from about one year of tracking this
information.

But that's for another time, and another blog...

People are using less gas?

A news report this morning said people appear to be driving slower due
to consistently high gas prices averaging $3.07 per gallon.

They may be driving slower, but I still see them accelerating just as
hard as usual.

People, hard acceleration saps your mileage even worse than driving
fast! Please think about the next time you start off from a stop sign
or stop light: what's up ahead? If it's another stop sign or traffic
signal, or more cars up there, are you really going to get to your
destination faster if you speed up to ride those peoples' bumpers?

Gentle, sane driving tactics will help improve your fuel economy, and
also reduce the amount of wear and tear on your car.

And it never hurt anyone to be a little polite out there on the roads,
either.

First Two Tanks of 2008

I have actually refueled twice this year and forgot to enter the first
tank's information until now.

Tank 1: 37.50 mpg
Tank 2: 37.55 mpg

This is interesting to me because this secon dtank I was driving much
faster than I normally do on my way home, at times hitting 75 miles per
hour in light traffic. I also did a fair amount of "in town" driving of
short distances, and had more than one hard acceleration opportunity.

I was expecting my fuel economy to suffer accordingly, but it did not
appear to.

So far in 2008, I have gone 764.5 miles on 20.373 gallons of gas, making
for an average fuel economy of 37.52 miles per gallon. This compared
favorably to the first two tanks of 2007, where fuel economy was about
36.65 mpg. However, at this point in 2007 I was not tracking air
temperature at fill-up time, but as you know, I don't believe in the
"hot gas" theory.

However, I do believe my fuel economy is lower when it's very cold or
very warm outside, due to the additional warm-up time needed in the
cold, and the use of air conditioning during warm weather.

2007 End-of-Year Statistics

It looks like I will not be refilling my gas tank until January 2 or 3,
2008, so I can start making comparisons between my 2006 and 2007 data.

2006 - 46 tanks of gas
2007 - 41 tanks of gas (10.87% fewer)

2006 - 462.026 gallons
2007 - 431.259 gallons (6.67% fewer)

2006 - $1,099.90 total cost
2007 - $1,090.30 total cost

2006 - $2.378 average cost/gallon
2007 - $2.529 average cost/gallon (6.36% higher)

2006 - 36.26 average mpg
2007 - 37.87 average mpg (4.43% higher)

2006 - 16,742.3 miles driven
2007 - 16,338.7 miles driven (2.4% fewer)

This is interesting data. My reduction in gallons used, and increase in
fuel economy, pretty much evened out the increase in gas prices.

Even if I refueled today, my total miles driven for the year would be
under my 2006 total. I think this potential for error is eliminated due
to the fact that my first tank of 2006 was on January 11.

I still drive lots of miles to and from work.

But I drive smartly and consistently, which results in fuel economy
higher than the reported EPA ratings, and I do my best to maintain the
car in safe and efficient working order.

Here's to an even better 2008!

Tank 140 - 12 December 2007

My theory that the Woodbridge Costco's gas pumps automatically shut off
sooner than those at the Fredericksburg Costco got a real boost today as
I filled up at Fredericksburg this morning and found my calculated fuel
economy to be just 35.65 mpg.

This economy is over 4 mpg lower than my last tank.

My last tank was 2 mpg higher than the tank before that, and this tank
is 2 mpg below that one.

The average of my last 2 tanks is the same as the average of the
preceeding 2 tanks (using my eyeball calculating technique).

What does this mean? Probably that in order to be fair with each tank,
I should refuel at the same exact pump each and every time. In reality
I won't be able to do this too often.

Maybe I ought to track the pump number at the gas station as well, to
see if any relevant data can be gleaned from a few months worth of data
there.

I'm definitely going to need a bigger notepad.