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Study looks to see if agressive driving leads to poor fuel economy. (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90366284)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/traffic.jpgZachary Barr - NPR - May 12, 2008

Around 400 Denver residents, including the city's mayor, are part of an ongoing experiment to see if drivers can be trained to drive "greener."

A device in their cars will track whether they are braking suddenly or speeding excessively, or if they have other bad driving habits. The goal of the test is to link aggressive driving with excessive fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions.

David Armitage, CEO of Cartasite, the company that makes the device, says collecting data from several hundred vehicles is key. That's because the program's goal goes beyond just rating individuals. Armitage says the data will help define aggressive driving.

"The goal of the first study is really to enable us to define that shape of that bell curve and understand what normal behavior is. Once we've done that, we will take that information, and we can put it right back into the device."...http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90366284

Thank you lyekka for the find.

A big flaw is that in today's society and marketing environment,
they're likely to get a really skewed baseline for what "normal"
is [or should be].
.
_H*

The goal of the test is to link aggressive driving with excessive fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions.

It'll probably turn a lot of heads to have an actual scientific study done on this, but there's something of a "no s***" aura around this topic.

It's a step in the right direction? Even if it doesn't directly help it will get people thinking.

It'll probably turn a lot of heads to have an actual scientific study done on this, [B]but there's something of a "no s***" aura around this topic.[B]
I have to agree. The first word that came to mind when I saw this article was, "DUH!":D

Duh!

Harry

I expect if they included one of the cleanmpg folks in the study, they would find out what NO hard breaking or accelerating does for FE.

On the other hand, they may just think the detection device was broken since it didnt measure anything...

Its a start.

I expect if they included one of the cleanmpg folks in the study, they would find out what NO hard breaking or accelerating does for FE.

On the other hand, they may just think the detection device was broken since it didnt measure anything...

Its a start.

What's this breaking thing you are talking about? ;)

If they don't filter on the right criteria, they may find the correlation isn't as strong as they expect (and that would give us a real uphill battle in trying to change people's driving habbits). Some folks accelerate slowly, but brake just as much as the hard accelerators.

"duh". That's like doing a study on why people go to the bathroom. What really needs to happen is have better driver education requirements and testing before one can receive a driver's license AND they must also know how to drive a manual transmission if they are physically capable of doing so. My wife can't drive a manual transmission due to back and hip problems from her scoliosis, ruptured disk surgery, and bulging disk. The act of using both feet on the peddles causes severe pain in her hips and lower back. I'm glad my dad taught me how to drive a stick. It's been a long time since I drove a stick but the last time I did all I had to relearn was the touch of the clutch. Some cars stall more easier than others. I hate long peddle travel clutchs. A clutch peddle should be a toe touch action and not a leg press action. Boy do I miss my 1984 Buick Skyhawk. It had no power steering but it did have a very light body (2 door), 2.0L engine, 4speed manual, and close to 40 mpg highway with agressive driving of a 20 year old behind the wheel trying to show off to a girlfriend. What was also good was the flip open rear side windows that allowed me to drive longer without the air conditioner.

They need to put that device on cars in LA, California.

listening to the broadcast: "this was the first attempt anywhere on the planet that we're aware of to correlate driving behavior to greenhouse gas emissions"

...CONGRATULATIONS!!! YOU'VE OPENED MY EYES!!! I'll stop stoming on the gas pedal in order to save the environment!!