Most ecodriving-friendly place you've driven?

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by Vman455

Back to the original topic: Chicago freeways, when traffic is moving, is hard to beat for MPG. Wind-protected with walls and whatnot, lots of traffic moving in the same direction, and moderate speeds=great mileage.

I forgot about that - I rarely find myself in those conditions, but that'd be great. I automatically think good roads = little to no traffic, which isn't necessarily true.

Originally Posted by Stubby79

This town's roads used to be rules by the old and infirm...15 years ago...I thought that was bad at the time...its really gone to sh*t since.

Definitely skewed toward older/retired drivers around Brockville & the part of NS where I've been this winter. I don't mind those drivers at all - slow & mildly unpredictable is better than ragey, fast & tailgatey.

[MetroMPG]

Wow... I visited relatives this weekend, doing a usual 200 km round trip on eastern Ontario country roads (south of Ottawa), and I can't remember when I've seen such consistently laid-back drivers in this neck of the woods.

Good following distances, mostly content to travel at the speed limit, like everybody was out for a Sunday drive on both Saturday and Sunday! The couple of passes I saw were very civilized, not kamakaze.

Maybe all the taped-on cardboard scared people into keeping their distance??

[MetroMPG]

Turns out the data back up my impression that drivers in my little city are pretty laid back and take their time (which makes it so much easier to drive for good fuel economy).



Allstate does an annual ranking of the safest cities to drive in Canada based on insurance claim frequency for collisions.





Brockville has a 3.9% claim rate. (Meaning: 3.9 claims on average for every 100 cars over 10 years.) The best city is 3.8%. The worst city is at 7.1%


Lots of retirees here is one reason. Also its small size (pop. 21,000) is another. The local newspaper ran a story joking that if you hit every red light from the north (suburban) end going downtown, it would take you 10 minutes instead of 7.

[redpoint5]

Oregonians in general seem to be slow and laid back. I'm often behind someone doing 10-15 under the limit.

Woodburn in particular the drivers act like the whole city is a school zone.

[mpg_numbers_guy]

There's this one 20-mile stretch in Ohio (North Thayer Rd. & OH-117E) on the way from Michigan to college in Virginia that's mostly flat, very slight hills, where I got 40 MPG in the minivan and 70 MPG on my Civic for the whole duration both ways. Speed limit varied between 35 MPH and 55 MPH.

[redpoint5]

In Oregon, people rarely go more than 10 MPH over the low speed limit of 65 MPH. Big rigs don't go much over 60 (55 MPH limit).

Interestingly, one of the best tanks I've had was in Washington, I believe on I-90. The speed limit is 75 MPH, and the big rigs go 75 MPH. Ducking behind one of those, I was able to achieve fast travel and good fuel economy.

Places where the big trucks drive fast are great to get good fuel economy.

[MetroMPG]

^ Also because they unintentionally DWL (drive with load) on the hills.


I rarely take the freeways. Lots of scenic alternatives around here with a 80 km/h = 50 mph upper limit. That's just fine for shorter trips. In fact I'm just about to head out on such a route along the St Lawrence River Parkway to a Dr.'s appointment. I could take the 401, but nah, I've got the time.

[redpoint5]

Google maps shows some back roads as being slightly shorter in distance, yet longer in travel time. Back when I was commuting a lot by motorcycle, I explored those back roads and found that not only are they way more scenic and shorter in distance, but faster travel time too. Perhaps Google thinks I slow down for turns. At any rate, the back route is faster even if I'm driving my truck with a trailer.

When ETAs are fairly close, I always choose the shorter route. They tend to be more scenic, less busy, and don't end up taking more time.

[mpg_numbers_guy]

I found the same, especially when travelling southwest. Generally the GPS would take us through the Chicago interstates and toll roads, until we began setting it to avoid tolls, which then bypassed Chicago, gave us a more direct route, and saved us a few minutes by avoiding Chicago traffic and stopping for tolls.

[AJI]

For me the most eco-driving friendly place I've driven is the Netherlands. The country is almost completely flat, urban speed limits are low, conurbations are frequent so you rarely spend long above urban speed limits, and other drivers didn't seem particularly aggressive so you aren't permanently whisked along in faster-flowing traffic.

I've previously driven a Yaris Hybrid over there, and a diesel Citroen C4 Cactus with an automated manual transmission, and in fairly regular driving I seem to recall achieving 60-65mpg pretty easily in each.