Shut up about fuel prices and stop blaming others if you drive with a lead foot.  According to the Department of Energy:  “Every five miles per hour you drive over 50 miles per hour is like "paying an additional $0.18 per gallon for gas.”  

And as you exceed, for example, 70 miles per hour – as almost everyone on the Maine Turnpike does – that additional cost is much more.  I don’t think anyone has slowed down anywhere since fuel prices soared.  Can you imagine how much fuel prices would drop if everyone just drove the speed limits?

Other estimates say that driving with a light foot can improve efficiency by 30 to 40 percent! Thirty percent takes a gallon of gas down from five dollars to $3.50.  

So again, shut up if you are still racing up to red lights and stop signs, and racing away from them. It’s kind of a hobby to see how far away you can take your foot off the gas, but of course be ready for the lead foots to race around you while you coast and then slam on their brakes. And then complain about worn out brakes.

The insurance companies that put their satellite monitors in your car have learned what is the best predictor of accidents, too —how hard you brake and how hard you accelerate.

And while we’re at it, one European country fines you $135 dollars if they catch you idling in a parking place.  I can’t believe I still walk by cars idling with no one in them.

I don’t know why more environmental groups aren’t heavily promoting light foot driving – save money, save the environment, no politicians in the way.

Kip Cleaver lives in Rockland