Save gas; replace stop signs with yield signs
As the old saying goes, “Every little bit helps.” With gasoline prices soaring even higher, here’s a suggestion to save a few dollars:
In neighborhoods across the city, there appears to be an abundance of three-way and four-way stops where they are not entirely needed. Having to stop and restart a 2,500-pound vehicle several times before we even get out of our neighborhoods is playing havoc with our gas mileage.
Where traffic on a primary street has to stop at an intersection where a secondary street comes to an end, perhaps yield signs should temporarily replace those stop signs. Four-way stops need the same treatment; the primary street needs to keep flowing.
In my own experience, having to stop and restart every other block, while pulling a trailer full of lawn equipment for my summer job, has drastically reduced my profits because of the cost of filling up my gas tank these days.
Keeping traffic flowing at a moderate rate, instead of wasting fuel at a stop-and-go rate, would save motorists a few dollars at the pump.
Stefan Prufer
Greensboro
The writer is a sophomore at Clemson University.
Comments (3)
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Most drivers already treat the stop signs as yield signs, Stefan. I think you're the only one that actually knows what they mean.
Posted on July 17, 2008 8:26 AM
I've had trouble timing the lights downtown; in Salisbury, 32 mph will let you cruise straight through the 35 mph zones. I'm getting 45 hwy right now and 30 in town with hypermiling.
Your business is all stop and go, and cold engines are the least fuel efficient. Try some modifications to provide you some immediate mileage relief (http://ecomodder.com/), and teach your employees the benefits of hyper miling (common sense things like not racing up to a stop light or a stopped car, planning your route so you dont' have to stop at the bottom of a hill--starting from a dead start up hill really kills mileage).
That should provide you some immediate offset from the fuel consumption thats increasing your costs. Good luck beating the EPA!
Posted on July 17, 2008 5:13 PM
A lot of the intersections in neighborhoods have become either 4-way stops or the signs repositioned as a form of speed control.
Posted on July 20, 2008 2:37 AM