Wishing for higher MPG: more people are running out of gas
Photo by Laffy4k. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.
Feel like pushing your luck a few more miles? I think you are, as it seems like more and more drivers are hoping the half- or quarter-fill-ups at the gas station will take them a bit further than is possible. It's easy to find news reports today about an increase in stranded drivers on American roads these days, drivers who can't deal with $4 gallons of gas.
In North Carolina, the state highway patrol is dealing with more drivers stuck on the side of the road than before. No, that's not accurate. A local TV station says, "Trooper Jeff Nash said some people don't even make it to the shoulder of the road when they're out of fuel, and end up stranded in the middle of the highway."
The AP finds this is a national trend. From Philadelphia to Dallas, Oregon to Tennessee, anecdotal evidence supports the idea that people are simply unable to completely fill up the tank these days and are therefore running out before reaching their destination. There are no national statistics that track strandees, but the AP found that out-of-gas calls to the AAA in the Philadelphia area doubled between May 2007 and May 2008, from 81 to 161. AAA Mid-Atlantic saw a 15 percent increase over last year.
[Source: AP, WSOC-TV]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
rj 11:21AM (6/02/2008)
running out of gas because it costs too much? what a bunch of total losers.
Reply
BlackbirdHighway 12:14PM (6/02/2008)
The must have read the George Soros report, and were hoping they could hold out until the price crash comes.
Reply
jmspearman 12:40PM (6/02/2008)
As a hypermiler (Sam thinks we all drive hybrids), I don't fill up my tank to save a bit of weight, although I've never run out of gas. Correction, I had a 76 MG back in the day and it didn't have a working gas guage, so I always kept a 1 gallon container of gas in the trunk for emergencies, and an MG is always in one state of emergency or another.
Reply
Peter L 2:22PM (6/02/2008)
Even drivers of economical cars push their luck
I shot this a few days ago
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=mQFL1ILwrzk
Reply
Warner Young 3:59PM (6/02/2008)
I don't really understand this. Are people not filling up their tank because they can't afford to? Or because they feel like it costs less money to fill up only halfway each time?
If it's the first, then I'm not sure what you can do about it. If it's the second, that doesn't make much sense to me. With gas price going up all the time, doesn't filling up only halfway actually cost you more money (and that's in addition to the whole running out of gas thing)?
Reply
stevefazek 7:06PM (6/02/2008)
i have always just filled my car up and run it down to a quarter tank and then refill it.
my parents always do the 10 bucks at a time BS.
I rather just bite the bullet
Reply
philmcneal 9:15PM (6/02/2008)
man people are just retarded, even here in canada where gas is well beyond the 4 gallon stage ($1.35/L) people are still racing around me to be first in line at the red traffic light!
LOL even a smart car had to rip it to get around me, its like... (FUCK PRICES ARE HIGHER I MUST GET THERE FASTER BEFORE I RUN OUT OF GAS)
awesome logic society!
Reply
FThorn 7:15AM (6/03/2008)
people don't fill up because they gamble on tomorrow's prices being a few cents less, and saving a bit of money doing that.
I, myself, instead just bought a Prius. I'm still waiting to do my first, complete fill-up. Driving speed limit and averaging 53 mpg or so.
Reply
gweedo 7:15PM (6/04/2008)
check some of these dudes silly thorts out?? lazza
Reply
gasser 10:54AM (6/03/2008)
I wonder how many of these clowns attended public school and vote Democrat?
Reply
Derek 12:00PM (6/03/2008)
Americans just don't understand fuel economy. Ask the average Joe about fuel economy and you'll get something like "I only have to fill up every other week" or "it costs me $XX.xx to fill the tank".
It isn't that hard to calculate your mileage when you fill up since most every car has at least one trip odometer these days. Yet, still many people confuse the time between fillups or the amount spent with fuel economy.
Reply
TheTalkingHamburger 3:16PM (6/03/2008)
@ gasser, who wrote: I wonder how many of these clowns attended public school and vote Democrat?
-------------------------
Because I'm sure none of them were driving alone in Expeditions and Suburbans with the little black 'W' sticker on the back window, right?
STFU with your dumb stereotyping.
Reply
Kevin Nugent 6:28PM (6/03/2008)
I think thats pretty crazy either way your daily commute may be just the same so do what my mom does. Charge the gas on a card and pay it back on the next pay check its better that going to the gas station every 2 days rather than once every 8 days . Going to the gas station more often is actually less fuel efficent
Reply
Sean 8:37AM (6/19/2008)
The $10-at-a-time thing is the investor tactic of dollar cost averaging. Take a look at the definition: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar_cost_averaging
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/dollarcostaveraging.asp
The only problem with it in this case is that the gas market does not have a positive mean rate of return (since it is consumed and prices keep increasing,) so risk isn't minimized very much. (It would make more sense if prices were swinging.)
Reply