Driving 120 instead of 100 km/h (75 vs 60 mph): how much time do you really save, what does it cost in fuel and fines around the world, and why does the faster car still do 77 km/h where the slower one has stopped? Simple maths, step by step.
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:39 The Simple Maths
1:36 Why Faster Saves Less
2:34 The Real Road
4:00 The Fuel Bill
4:46 The Fine
5:54 The Physics of Stopping
7:51 Verdict
Sources:
– Stopping distance by speed (97 m at 100 km/h, dry road):
– Speeding fines, 20 km/h (≈ 12 mph) over, approximate, 2026 (exchange rates approximate):
– Sweden:
– Norway:
– Germany:
– Ontario:
– UK:
– California:
– fueleconomy.gov, driving habits and fuel economy:
– Fuel at 100 vs 120 km/h (Umweltbundesamt figure):
– Edmunds cruise control test (via CNN Money, 2005):
– FHWA 2018, conventional cruise control on rolling terrain:
– Svenson et al., the time-saving bias:
– Elvik et al. 2019, speed and road safety (Nilsson power model):
Photo credits (photos cropped and animated):
• “Big Man on Airport Rd.” by Michael Gil from Calgary, AB, Canada, CC BY 2.0: commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=37165686
Other footage and photos: Pixabay and Wikimedia Commons (CC0 / public domain).
Music:
Holding On – Telecasted (YouTube Audio Library)
National Sweetheart – Pretty Pretender (YouTube Audio Library)
The narration uses an AI clone of my own voice. Every number and fact comes from my own trip or the sources above.
source
Do you use cruise control on long drives? What speed do you set it to? 👇