When Will Gas Prices Affect Your Driving Habits?
May 6th, 2007 | by Brian Carr |With gas prices up nearly 33% since the beginning of the year, it’s obvious that the increased cost is starting to hit all of us pretty hard. That being said, has the cost gone up enough to drastically alter the amount of driving that we do?
According to a recent poll on Daily Fuel Economy Tip, for nearly half of us, it looks like the answer to the above question is yes.
When asked, “How high will gas prices need to get before you drastically alter the amount of driving you do?” 42% of respondents stated that they had already altered their driving, 25% said they would alter their driving at $4 per gallon, 20% stated they would alter their driving at greater than $5 per gallon and 13% said they would alter their driving at $5 per gallon.
This recent data falls in line with a previous poll in which 74% of respondents stated that they would travel less this summer if gas prices were to reach $4 per gallon.
Obviously, the most recent poll leaves some things open to interpretation, specifically how much of a reduction in driving constitutes a dramatic decrease. That being said, the fact that 42% of respondents said that they have reduced their driving goes to show how much this rapid rise in the price of gas has hit many of us pretty hard.
And if you combine the rising gas prices with a very slow real estate market and a slowing economy, we could be looking at a lot more people having to choose between driving their car and being able to pay other bills.
Either way, it’s fairly evident that if gas prices continue to climb higher, we’re all going to be affected at some point.
Popularity: 42% [?]
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15 Responses to “When Will Gas Prices Affect Your Driving Habits?”
By mike on May 7, 2007 | Reply
Changing your driving habits is a good first step however there are lots of things you can do to improve your cars mileage for tips check out http://www.sonomabuzz.com
By cfpresley on May 7, 2007 | Reply
interesting info, but umm you used “that being said” umm twice in your umm article, which is about umm 2 times too much, as it were.
By Michael on May 7, 2007 | Reply
cfpresley: That should be “two times too many.”
By Steve on May 7, 2007 | Reply
When Will Gas Prices Affect Your Driving Habits?
Never. It’s just easier to go around in a car. If I cared about fuel prices I certainly wouldn’t have a 5.4L V12.
By anonymous on May 7, 2007 | Reply
How I changed my driving habits:
Don’t try to be the first off the line at stop/go lights. You don’t have to put the petal to the floor to get where you are going. Chances are you just going to hit the next red and waste all of that delta V anyways. You are not the winner if you are the first one to the next light.
Instead of braking, just let you foot off the gas. Coasting can greatly slow down your car. Also a greater chance that the light will change before you get to it.
Don’t tailgate people. Give them lots of room to do their constant speed corrections, while you coast along at a nice smooth speed. This is especially true the heavier traffic is.
Realize when your city sets up stop lights in a timed manor. If they have it rigged that you must go below 25 mph, then you have to. Otherwise you are just going to race to the next light burning up a ton of extra gas, only to have to stop and do it all over again. Try to time it so the light changes 80 feet before you get to it. Think nice smooth ride.
Don’t leave your car running, sit idle, and especially not with the air conditioner on. The starter for your car is much cheaper to fix and replace then all the gas you will burn with it just sitting there.
Check your tire pressure weekly. This is a big one. Correct pressure in your tires helps them get better traction on the road and thus better gas mileage.
Biggest thing is DON’T DRIVE LIKE AN ASSH*LE. Be a considerate driver; don’t cut people off to merge into their lane. Its just as easy to merge behind someone and you don’t waste half as much gas.
Side note: I work at a cab company. We are a cooperative and very much care about our gas costs. We have one of the highest fleet mpg’s rates known among cab companies. This is in part due to our great fleet mechanics and in part to the drivers that care they are wasting money. I used to fill up once a week before I started driving as stated above. Now its usually once every 1 1/2 to 2 weeks.
By Ken on May 8, 2007 | Reply
Not all city’s have their lights timed, those that do it is great to learn them but many that don’t have them set to varying algorithms that invariably make the light turn yellow as I approach not matter what. I’m personally of the feeling that gas prices aren’t high enough to justify the amount of complaining people do about them. Granted I lived in Europe for a few years and drive a fairly small efficient car but I still see so many people buying larger than necessary vehicles, refusing to carpool and use public transportation and doing so many other foolish things (some of which I too am guilty of). When I see more compact and subcompact cars on the road than SUVs, public transportation filled to near capacity, very few single occupant vehicles on commutes, and bike racks full outside of offices and stores then maybe the prices are a bit high.
By MaxBR on May 9, 2007 | Reply
Even the gallon reaching $4, the US is still paying cheaper than the rest of the world. i thing i dont get, why americans buy V8 bathtubs and stroll around town at 40mph, buy a smaller car with smaller engine to do that. if the problem is that if you got a smaller car you’re a pussy?? if so, americans are a bit more stupid than i ever thought.
By limeade on May 10, 2007 | Reply
If gas prices going up this much is making it so you can’t pay your other bills, there’s a much bigger problem with your finances.
-limeade
By upnorth on May 10, 2007 | Reply
Just a thought,
Do you think maybe urban spraw could be the real problem? If you lived near where you worked then these issues would not be any problems, yet i continue to read and hear about people who live over 50 miles away from work, and are in the city. It bad enough for those of us who live in rual areas and drive at highways speeds, but those of you who live in a city and drive over an hour on a good day and 2 on a bad are nuts. Move closer to where you work. I know, its not a nice place, if every one in suburbia move back to the core then it will get better. Live in communitues again. Guess what, gas consumption will decrease and the cities will be a live again.
By Motorcycle Guy on May 13, 2007 | Reply
It’s interesting the amount of people who buy motorcycles to save on gas money. I wouldn’t think it would be near as many as it is.
By Everydayfinance on May 30, 2007 | Reply
Interesting responses. I’ve read some literature in a past life (Economics MBA courses) that indicated gas is pretty damn inelastic until you get over about $5. Essentially, it really takes a painful wakeup call for sustained changes in behavior, car buying habits, moving back with 1 hour of your workplace instead of commuting from the exurbs to get a cheaper house away from the city, etc. I’ve posted some rants of my own at my blog as well, feel free to visit.
Dan
By Matthew Vea on Jun 25, 2007 | Reply
The sad part is changing our driving habits will have the most pronounced impact on national gas consumption … yet nobody seems to want that solution. Odd how we Americans would prefer to pay for a technological fix rather than do something for free that benefits us right here right now.
You can read the factual proof in Improve MPG: The Factors Affecting Fuel Efficiency where a Jeep Wrangler’s ECU is hooked into a laptop and data is sampled directly from the engine. All of the graphs show the difference in fuel consumption for various different kinds of driving.