AVOID RUSH HOUR

Potential Fuel Saving: 52 per cent

Verdict: Extremely worthwhile; potentially difficult to put into practice

It is presumptuous in the extreme for someone like me to suggest – gasp – not driving, but if you can avoid peak-hour, sideline those ignition keys. The dreaded ‘linear car park’ between home and office is the biggest threat to air quality imaginable in post-Dickensian cities – and 53 per cent of all passenger vehicle travel in Australia occurs in capital cities, plus another 18 per cent in other urban areas. In fact, Australians drove 46 billion kilometres just getting to and from work in 2006. (Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics Survey of Motor Vehicle Use 2006.) Crawling along in the traffic equivalent of molasses, in a 1500kg car, and carrying basically 80kg of cargo (you) is the least efficient way to motor, short of a 400km/h blat in the Veyron. From the outer suburbs to the CBD – in this test a 22km drive – took 24 minutes, provided departure was at an ungodly 5am. Consumption? A little under two litres of unleaded per run. Depart with the Joneses at 7.30am, hit the peak head-on, and the drive takes one hour– more than a 100 per cent time penalty, and fuel consumption skyrockets to more than three litres. Obviously 5am starts would not suit many, but even a small reduction in peak-hour exposure is worthwhile. In one bet-hedging test run we departed at 8.30am, had a great run for 11km to the halfway point before grinding into the tail-end of the peak. Here, we still managed to shave more than 20 per cent over the absolute peak-hour run’s consumption. Still a worthwhile saving of both time and fuel.