Does driving fast help you to save time?
I have always loved powerful cars and driving fast. I have never owned a car with a weak engine. I am currently driving a Saab 9-3 Aero and I am really satisfied with it. Having more than 200 bhp at disposal makes it easy to accelerate or to pass other cars on the road. On some occasions I drive faster than it is allowed (and I have received some tickets for that). Two years ago I skid off an icy road because I was going too fast. Still, I like doing it. Although I think I have calmed down to some extent and I am driving more cautiously now.
But does driving fast help you to save considerable amount of time? Let’s make a simple calculation to investigate this question. Assume that you have to travel 100 km (60 miles). In Estonia the speed limit is 90 km/h (55 mph). If we are averaging that speed, which means that we actually have to exceed it to some extent then we will arrive in the destination in 1 hours 6 minutes and 40 seconds. If we had driven at 100 km/h (60mph) on the average we have completed the journey in exactly 1 hour.
So by increasing our average speed we could have won just under 7 minutes. That really isn’t so much. Actually it is not so easy to increase your average speed from 90 to 100 km/h if you have traffic on your road as you have to pass many cars, which are travelling about 80 to 90 km/h.
It is very easy to lose 7 minutes. For example if you have to pack your things before setting off then you can easily waste 10 minutes on it. Or if you stop for refueling your car then it also takes several minutes. In most cases it helps you to save more time if you leave your destination earlier and avoid making stops on the road. You do not have to drive so fast but have to keep going.
Driving fast wastes fuel. Even if you increase your speed from 90 to 100 km/h then it can increase your fuel consumption by 10% If you drive faster then the increase in fuel consumption is even more. For example, if you are doing 180 km/h (115 mph) on a high way then you will burn roughly 2 times more fuel in comparison to normal road speed. If you have to drive a lot then it makes a remarkable difference in the long run.
Many people exceed speed limits when they are in a hurry. Some three years ago I slept in for my lecture at the university and I was more than half hours late. I had to drive about 3 km (2 miles) from my home to university building. I remember I was going at 100 km/h in the urban area while I was driving to work then. What did I achieve by doing it? Probably I was 30 minutes late instead of being 32 minutes late. Not much time save for the risk taken. Driving fast when being late is natural, but you really cannot make up very much time by doing so.
Fast driving helps you to save time mostly on the occasions when you have to drive long distances and where there are possibilities to drive fast. For example if you have to drive 500 km(310 miles) and with 90 km/h (55 mph) you will arrive in the destination by 5 hours 33 minutes and 20 seconds. At 120 km/h (mph) it will take only 4 hours and 10 minutes. In this example you will gain more than one hour by it. Still you have to take into account increased fuel consumption and higher risk of accident.
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My name is Kristjan-Olari Leping. I am a speed reading trainer. I have an associated professor position at the University of Tartu, am a policy analyst in a policy research center, I am a trainer and I am involved in many other business projects. 