What's the Ideal Highway Speed?

When you sit behind the steering wheel of your car, you control your destiny. You choose where you want to go, when you want to go, and how fast you want to get there. The latter choice carries with it significant risk in the form of traffic tickets, fuel economy, and the urgency of your situation, so take some time to evaluate whether or not you’re at the ideal highway speed for your situation before you let your lead foot have its way. We at Sheehy Nissan of Glen Burnie have the details.

Ticket-Free Driving

If your primary goal while driving is a ticket-free driving record, you must always drive at or below posted speed limits. If police determine that the speed of your car exceeds the speed limit by as little as 1 mph, they can give you a speeding ticket. You must not drive too slowly, however, because police could ticket you for blocking traffic or failure to maintain designated minimum speeds. Drivers who want to avoid traffic citations must also know local laws for roads that do not have speed limit signs.

Fuel Economy

Most cars have a “sweet spot” for speed that delivers optimum fuel economy. You can often learn about the optimum speeds for your vehicle by visiting the service desk at your dealer. If you cannot find out the speed at which your car delivers the best gas mileage, you can rely on general principles that can help your car get the most out of every gallon of gas. As the speed of your car increases, the resistance it meets from the air also increases. This means that your car must work harder to maintain high speeds than it has to work to maintain low speeds. The U.S. Department of Energy says that the fuel consumption of cars quickly increases at speeds above 50 mph. Surprisingly, cars with the highest fuel-efficiency ratings tend to suffer from bigger drops in gas mileage at high speeds than the drops experienced by cars that have subpar fuel economy ratings. You must drive slowly on the open road if your ideal highway speed is the speed that delivers the most miles per gallon.

Your Car

Your car helps define your ideal highway speed. If you drive a super-high-performance vehicle, your ideal speed could be much higher than if you drive a motor scooter. If you have a need for speed and your car will not deliver, schedule an appointment with your dealer to test drive cars that have ambition under their hoods.