Eco Driving

[rodericksdad]

One other thing, if you want a laugh or to be deeply disturbed, here is what my previous employer is upto
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRs0-9ItnHw

Oh, their buses are not that clean in real life.

Thats all well and good.....................................pity they dont get their planners to give the driver reasonable time to do the journey in the first (no pun intended) place,its human nature to look at your timetable and try to keep to it,if they gave enough time driver would be able to do all this without having to have all this gear fitted,relaxed driver,relaxed and comfy passengers,.......Oh eck i,ve just woke up it was all a dream,even less time to do the run in

[ExadiNigel]

....Firstly, forget SAFED - it puts economy ahead of safety....

No it doesn't!

I don't know how SAFED for Vans differs from SAFED for HGV's (other than vehicle size) but SAFED for Vans certainly doesn't put economy ahead of safety.

I'm not yet convinced of the idea of block changing up the gear box. When I originally attended the SAFED training course I acheived a better fuel consumption on my assessment run by just changing up sequentially & early than when the trainer got me to block change up! I keep meaning to do more experimentation on this to try and prove one over the other but I think the difference may be that small to not be worth bothering with. Block changing up does mean slightly less work for the driver though.

The biggest thing that improves fuel economy if minimising changes in speed. Once up to speed, look as far ahead as poss and plan as early as poss thus minimising the need to slow down. Someone mentioned a figure of 40% relating to the amount of your fuel usage to get moving from stationary. I don't know how accurate that is.

....Take the advice given on Chesterfield Councils website, 30mph in 5th ? ....

Yeah but then the council is being selfish and think of their own economics - the more people that try trundling around at 30 in 5th, the more likely they are to creep over the speed limit and get caught by one of the cameras! Ka'ching another fpn and money to add to their coffers!

Nigel