Fuel efficient and environmentally friendly driving goes hand in hand with safe, low risk driving says Hampshire County Council’s Road Safety Team

The best fuel economy is normally achieved on the open road outside urban areas. This is because most fuel is used by accelerating a vehicle up to speed. If a steady speed can be maintained less fuel is used. This is less easy to achieve in an urban environment but the following tips can help:

• Make use of good ‘accelerator sense’. By good forward planning, unnecessary speed build up and then heavy braking can be avoided.  
• Try to time the approach to a hazard to get there at a gap in the traffic to avoid unnecessary stopping.
• Maintain sufficient following distances so that you don’t have to brake heavily when the vehicle in front brakes, therefore avoiding some acceleration.
• Anticipate mistakes by other road users so gradual braking can be used.
• Change up to a high gear when possible ( but not to the detriment of vehicle control).
• Keep within the speed limits. This rarely affects journey times in an urban environment but keeps fuel consumption lower.
• Avoid unnecessary short vehicle journeys. Consider walking or cycling.
• Turn the engine off when waiting for long periods in queuing traffic.
• A high level of concentration and awareness is needed to continuously employ these methods.

Other tips:

• Avoid unnecessary weight in the vehicle e.g. empty the boot of unnecessary loads.
• Ensure the car is as aerodynamic as possible by avoiding having a roof rack fitted if not needed, and avoiding open windows where possible.
• Don’t use air conditioning more than necessary as this and other in-vehicle equipment will tend to drain power.
• Check tyre pressures regularly as low pressures will increase fuel consumption. ( Take care that high pressures can increase braking distances).
• Regular vehicle maintenance.
• Record actual fuel use to monitor the effectiveness of any measures taken.