Denver Program Hopes to Change Driving Habits

If you're looking to save a few bucks on gas this summer, one of the places you can start is your own driving habits. Certain behaviors can negatively impact your car's use of fuel. For instance, speeding up to make it through a stoplight, rapid acceleration or deceleration, and allowing your car to idle for long periods all greatly reduce the number of miles you're getting per gallon —  sometimes decreasing fuel efficiency by 20%.

This inspired the city of Denver to launch Driving Change, a system that allows drivers to quantify the greenhouse gas emissions they produce through poor driving practices. Accelerometers are connected to the internal systems of vehicles, and they record information that drivers can later view on the internet. The idea is that if drivers see what they’re doing wrong, they can adjust their habits.

One or two individuals creating fewer emissions isn’t a big deal, but spread across a major city it could have an impact. The Driving Change pilot program hopes to expand to additional cities in an effort to make drivers everywhere more aware of their habits behind the wheel.

Comments

This sounds like a program the folks at CleanMPG.com should volunteer to help.

Bob Wilson

Don't you think speeding up to make it through a stoplight uses less gas than starting from a dead stop and getting back up to 35-40mph?

Those instruments are only needed when they think that the people don't know what they are doing, but in fact, most people know that they are wasting gasoline but just don't give a damn.

Wasting gas and stoplights? Hmmm what's wrong with this picture?

I'd LOVE to go to work and back at a steady 45mph every day. It would probably be very efficent.

But the urban planers can barely keep the roads PAVED! Let alone make effective traffic reduction plans.