No More "Zoom, Zoom"

I have a confession to make: when I drive my car, I have what my Daddy called "a heavy foot." That means I drive fast and furious. As I zoom down the road, I consider speed limits for sissies -- none of you are officers of the law, are you?

I know that driving fast burns more fuel, releasing more greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. I am trying to mend my ways so that I can go green, but it doesn't come easily. I have a lifetime of bad driving habits to overcome.

Part of making my living involves traveling across the state, and that isn't anything I can change. I don't drive a Hummer, but I don't drive a hybrid vehicle, either. My Honda Element gets about 25 miles to the gallon on the highway.

When I am at home, I have tried to reduce the amount of driving that I do. I have wished for a long time that I lived in a "walkable neighborhood," but I don't have many stores or shops nearby. These days, however, I plan my trips to town and map my errands before I go. That way, I don't find myself criss-crossing the town several times. I've also discovered that I really don't have to go to my post office box every day, because all I'm going to find is bills.

After watching a television news program about ways to drive to save fuel, I searched for tips to help me. At We Test the Tips I discovered pretty much what I already knew (but don't always practice):

• Don't drive like a maniac. By not stomping hard on the brake pedal and by slowly accelerating, you can have major savings. In their tests, the group at Edmonds.com discovered that you can realize up to 37% savings on fuel.
• Drive at slower speeds. On long trips, you can have a savings of 14%.
• Using cruise control on those long trips can cause a 14% savings.
• Reducing idling time can save up to 19%, so if you will be sitting for more than a minute they suggest turning off the car

I'm looking at that and wondering about it. If I do all of those things, will I realize an 84% savings on fuel? No, I won't, but I can make a difference!

The hardest part for me is slowing down on the highway. In the past eight days, I've driven across Texas and back twice and that's a long time in the car. When I sit for that long, my feet begin to swell, so my foot is "heavy" in a different way than Daddy meant. But, I guess that having toes that look like Vienna sausages is a small price to pay for doing my part to save the environment. As long as my toes don't "go green," I can handle the slow drive.

© Shelly Tucker, 2009