I read, a few days before I needed to fill my tank, that driving 10mph slower would increase my mileage by 4mpg.

I've been driving a 1998 Ford Contour for nearly 10 years, and every time I filled up I mentally calculated my gas mileage by filling the tank completely each time, and resetting the trip odometer each fill up. I generally get 21-22mpg in that car regardless of whether I'm driving on the freeway or in the city.

So I was skeptical that this was true, but as I was filling a new tank, and it would cost me nothing but a little time, I determined to try it out.

I was surprised that it was true. I initially went from 21mpg to 23mpg with only a modest decrease in speed, and I found that it didn't cost me significant time. The fact is that when I'm going quickly I'm actually speeding up and slowing down constantly with traffic, and hit the 'slowdowns' much more frequently.

By doing a few calculations I realized

The one thing that did concern me was that all these people were passing me at 10-20mph faster (this is a 3-4 lane highway, so I'm not impeding traffic by going the speed limit), and when I was travelling quickly I assumed that slow drivers were going slow because they were unfamiliar with the area, had poor vehicles, or were simply "slow drivers". I didn't want to be hit with those assumptions, and desired a bumper sticker to proclaim my reasons for driving slowly, and perhaps change a few other's habits along the way.

This website is the culmination of that desire. While the information is generally available, it is not generally known.

Hopefully you will see the benefit to slowing down and enjoying life at a more leisurely, safer, less costly, and more environmentally friendly pace.

-Adam