W
ell, I did the math. I'm on the highway for 40 miles when I go into town -- if I drive "naturally", I usually travel at about 72 mph, but recently I've been trying out setting my car on cruise control at 55 mph, which is apparently about where most cars get their best gas mileage. I wanted to test, how much money would I be saving, versus what I'd be losing in more time spent in the car?
It turns out, I get almost 40 miles to the gallon traveling at 55 mph, compared to around 30 miles to the gallon when driving at 72 mph. I spend almost 11 more minutes driving in the former than the latter, one way. Gas is currently about $3.20 per gallon.
What does all this mean? It means that if I pay about $2.50 per day in extra gas, I get 20 minutes back for it. Is this worth it? Part of me wants to say "yes, obviously" -- that's only $7.50 an hour, and I generally value my time much higher than that. However, $2.50 every day I go into town is not nothing, it's hundreds of dollars a year, which is a subscription service I would basically never sign up for in other contexts.
Then again, there are risks associated with driving faster, and a habitual mentality of rushing, and those are worth something as well. I suppose I could split the difference, and just drive the speed limit. But at the end of the day, have I learned anything here? I don't think so. I basically did this for fun. The attitude, or object, behind our decisions tends to matter more than the consequences of them. What driving speed is most likely to contribute to peace of mind? Counting pennies is maybe not the best way to determine this.