St. Louis to Chicago: Putting A 55 M.P.H. Drive to the Weekend Road Trip Test
In light of a recent post of mine here about a campaign to lower the speed limit to 55 miles per hour, I saw a weekend getaway as a chance to test the impact of speed-limit driving on fuel economy.
Going from St. Louis to Chicago, then up past Milwaukee before backtracking that route home, my wife and I drove our 2008 Honda Civic, a 5-speed which is rated to get 36 miles per gallon on the highway and 25 mpg in the city (29 mpg combined).
On three gas stops, our mileage figured to 40.25, 39.29 and 39.48 mpg.
That included city driving, traffic stoppages, and miles and miles of construction slow-downs and more stoppages.
Could it be that driving the speed limits, usually 55- and 65-mph on the highways and interstates we used, gave us that boost to get from 36 to 40 miles per gallon?
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As I wrote about in that earlier “Driving 55” post, Internet-based responses to the media’s announcement of, and the drive55.org campaign push for, a federally-mandated decrease in speed limit has been rather heated, outright vicious, hateful, profanity-filled and, at times, violent in nature.
Why?
Value of a Relaxing Drive
I enjoyed the drive this weekend. For years I’ve been one of those people who figured driving should be done as fast as I can get away with. If the limit is 55, go 68. If it’s 70, go 80. Or whatever.
But driving that way is such a tension-filled experience.
Every car you come up behind is going too slow, you think. Every car coming up behind you seems to be begging for a race and/or is getting in the way of lane changes and passing.
Everyone is an enemy, you figure, because all that matters is that ever-pressing instant of NOW…go go go go go go. For what? What’s gained?
And, being a speed-racer, you’ve got to keep eyes out for law enforcement at all times.
It’s all tension and aggravation. And it’s unnecessary.
Driving this weekend’s trip at the speed limit was relaxing and in-control. Easy reaction times. No one in my way. Cops weren’t worth a second glimpse. My time was still well-spent, listening to music, talking with my wife, eating at restaurants, seeing some countryside and cityside.
Oh, and did I mention, we got 40 miles per gallon? Short of a hybrid, there’s nothing mass-produced that is better on the road right now.
Doing What is In Our Best Interests
As we saw motorcyclist after motorcyclist in Illinois riding sans helmet (in Missouri, helmets are required), I got to thinking about a particular comment I read at another media site online last week.
This person questioned why he, she, or anyone should have to have a law pushing all drivers down to 55 mph. Couldn’t anyone who wanted to drive 55 mph just go ahead and do it now — and get out of his, her and everyone’s way who wants to go 70, 80 or whatever miles per hour?
And it seems that, technically, the answer is “Yes, people can make sensible choices of their own volition without government mandate.”
After all, my wife and I just showed, as I’ve been discussing in this blog post, that people can in fact set cruise control on 55 mph and still get to their destination.
But how many people do hold back, even though it’s safer and, seemingly, more economical?
If motorcyclists know that death is almost certain in the event of a wreck on the highway, then why don’t they take that safety measure of wearing a helmet? It’s in their control, 100 percent. They don’t bother to do it, that simple thing that is decidedly in their own best interests.
We all have vices and do things we know are not in our interests. Smokers smoke. Drinkers get drunk — and some of them drive. We eat unhealthy foods in unhealthy quantities and clog our arteries and hearts.
It’s what we do. That’s our comfortable, convenient life in America.
So, maybe, since healthy choices seem often to be an ill-fitted, if not oxymoronic, idea in the typical American’s lifestyle, just maybe it is reasonable to think a law could be useful in this Drive 55 campaign.
Maybe every now and then we all need some governance. If I don’t need that law for myself, since I am capable and willing to chill out in the driver’s seat, then what I could use is that law to make the many angry, self-absorbed, speeding drivers around me slow down and cool out.
If I drive more responsibly and carefully, it affects you positively. Therefore, if a law makes me drive 55 mph, it’s in your interest.
Maybe more even-tempered driving is not for fuel economy, gas savings, or oil wars. At least not just those reasons.
There’s more to it than that. Maybe it’s about mental and emotional health, community interaction and general attitudes. Maybe if I act in a way that is mindful of you, and you drive in a way that is mindful of me, then we all win, we all score one for the team’s interests?
Ah, yes. Kumbaya.
But if you’re not into that, I would like to mention, in case you hadn’t heard: While driving the speed limit this weekend, my wife and I got 40 miles per gallon.
It created more than a 10 percent savings on fuel and gas money. Cool, huh?
Related posts:
Gas Hole, a Documentary of the History of Oil Prices and Alternative Energy
High Gas Prices: Empty Tanks Are the New Black in California
World Naked Bike Ride: Is Anything Gained by Protesting Oil Dependency in the Buff?
Image source: drive55.org
Totally great post!
How long did it take you to get from STL to CHI? I don’t really drive on long trips-usually my husband does. I think it would take some getting used to, but obviously ca be done.
Better yet, take the uber-cheap Megabus to Chicago!
“Oh, and did I mention, we got 40 miles per gallon? Short of a hybrid, there’s nothing mass-produced that is better on the road right now.”
Not quite nothing. I’ve beat that number with more than one conventional car, without pulling any funny stunts (aka: drafting)
Drive sensibly and you can achieve what seems like remarkable mileage … say 50 MPG from a Toyota Yaris. And you don’t even need to drive 55 MPH.
http://www.mpgomatic.com/2008/08/24/toyota-yaris-mpg-review/
My wife and I recently purchased a Nissan Murano. It’s rated at 17/21 (I believe). My wife has been following some of the more practical hypermiling techniques and realizing an average of 24mpg doing a 50/50 mix of town/highway driving. Needless to say thats A LOT better than the advertised mileage so we were pretty happy. To think we almost wasted money on a Hybrid!
We recently took a drive to southern Missouri (Branson area). On the way down we drove our typically style of driving (70 in a 65, 80 in a 70). The car (and our own calculations) pinned our mileage at 20mpg. We were very disappointed! So much so that I dediced to try a different technique on the way back. We drove 60mph the entire way back home. As described by Adam, it was a LOT more relaxing. We didn’t participate in the fight for the fast lane. We planted ourselves in the right lane and cruised home. Granted it did take little longer to get home but the car reported 28mpg! We double checked with our own calculations and sure enough the trip computer was spot on.
This weekend we drove from St. Louis to KC and got a slightly lower 26mpg during that trip. I-70 is loaded with tractor trailers and is a stressful road to travel on normally but cuising at 60mph in the right lane made it much less so.
Sign me up Adam!
have you tried premium gas? On our families subarus it is worth it for higher MPG.
Great post. I can totally relate to what you are saying since I’ve recently also found the value in taking it easy - to the extent that these days my wife is actually telling me to speed up instead of slowing down!!
you can drive as slow as you like - no one has a problem with that. just keep your moth shut when it comes to telling other people how fast to drive, commie
That’s great when you are on a “weekend drive”, but I have 500 miles of unpaid driving to do for work, and believe me when I say I’d rather not do it. The only reason cars get best gas mileage at 55 is because they are designed to. Engines all have a peak fuel efficiency at a certain RPM, and the transmission is designed to reach that RPM at 55, which is the most commonly driven speed. If I slow down from 75-80 to 55, I am tacking on an extra 45 minutes onto my 12 hour workday, and I simply have no interest in that. Especially seeing as I still get 29 mpg (out of a 1.9l Saturn) that has a peak fuel efficiency rating of 30mpg.
More to the point, if everyone drove 55 instead of 75, traffic congestion would be more constant and longer lasting. Fast driving gets cars out of the loop before congestion beings, hence saving fuel. People who sit in 3 mph traffic for two hours a day (almost everyone working in Boston) are lucky to see 15 MPG from a Honda Civic.
I know you’re right, but sometimes when you’ve got two boys in the backseat of the hybrid saying “When are we going to get there? How long till we get there? Are we there yet?” you sometimes say to yourself, “I’ve got a hybrid, darn it, I’m gonna drive a little faster.”
I’ll try to be better.
The government should not be policing someone’s personal well-being. Period. People choose to drive without a seatbelt or without a helmet, their choice, their life. If a speed range is considered safe, and people can handle their vehicles safely within that range, it is stupid to lower the speed limit range. I don’t care if you choose to drive at the lower level of the speed limit range as long as you stay in the right lane and do not have traffic backing up behind you.
It was more relaxing for you because it was a decision you decided on before you got in the car. Sounds like you were planning for a leisurely weekend not a jam-packed weekend. You were proving a point, a point that everyone knows, you get better gas mileage at 55 than 75/80. Had you been proven wrong, I can bet that you would not be touting how “relaxing” it was.
You are right, most people are not going to slow down without the government mandated reduction in speed. Many people do not want to spend more time on the road.