Are You Driving on Fresh Air? Do you travel miles to save pennies on fuel costs? Do you watch your fuel gauge more than your Speedo? Is the rising cost of Gas strangling you?

Fear not…Help is at hand…GET A BICYCLE! Seriously, there are a few things that can be done without throwing your car keys away and walking everywhere. (PHEW)! A lot of the things you can do to save fuel are easy and free. When was the last time you checked your tires to see if they were inflated to the correct pressure? Under inflated tires are one of the main causes of excess fuel consumption. It’s easy to check your tire pressures daily with a cheap tire pressure gauge; if you don’t know how asks your local garage mechanic to show you (A free beer works wonders). When you buy your fuel can have an effect on what you get. Gas is sold by volume and as we all know from school, liquids expand when warm, so if you buy your gas at the hottest part of the day you will get less than if you buy when it is cold. So the logical time to buy your gas is just before dawn (Who’s Dawn?) when it’s coldest.

With 24 hour shopping it would make sense to do your weekly shop while others are asleep and fill up your tank at the same time. The roads will be quieter so less traffic to get stuck behind and waste fuel. There are various (free) websites that will tell you the cheapest gas prices in your area. How about just washing your car. It causes less drag, … Honestly. Why do you think that swimmers shave their heads (i.e. Duncan Goodhew)? Or what about those skin tight smooth figure hugging suits worn by downhill skiers? (Just going for a cold shower).

Make car washing fun, get all the family involved. Hose down the dog, hose down the kids. Hose down the whole neighbourhood. (If winter you may ignore this one)Sitting at the lights revving the engine may impress the boy racers but it uses gas. Rev the engine 15 times and you use enough fuel to travel one mile. Remember this next time you have to push your car to the gas station. Is your car due for a service? (I know a good priest who can give the last rites at a reasonable price). I know it costs money for servicing your car if you are unable to do it yourself. But the cost in extra fuel if your car is not running right is even more. (Blocked air filter, worn spark plugs, sticking brakes, etc.) Best of all drive safely. Do not tailgate! if you do you will have to brake harder when the car in front does. Give some distance to the car in front. You will use your brakes less and still get there at the same time. Watch the traffic far ahead and try to read how they are going to act, if you see brake lights up ahead you can react a bit sooner. If you are driving in the wet you can sometimes see the reflections of brake lights on the wet road surface. This allows you to slow down sooner and avoid harsh braking.