ESB Safe Driving Bureau

Speed for hazard — gear for speed

This month Mike Kavanagh is giving advice on a specific driving technique in relation to gear selection.

Quickly change up through the gears?
In the past, many drivers had been thought to change quickly up through the gears, so they can get into top gear as soon as possible. The usual reason put forward for this is that it improves fuel economy, but with modern cars, this is no longer always the case, and indeed there are some disadvantages in doing it.

Creeping up in speed
One of the main disadvantages is the tendency to creep over the 50 km/h speed limit if you are travelling in either fourth or fifth gear. In the UK, the IAM and the ‘Today’ programme commissioned MORI to do some research to establish whether driving in an inappropriate gear actually was causing some drivers to exceed the 30mph speed limit.

54% select too high a gear for 30mph speed limit
1000 drivers were surveyed, all of whom had manual transmissions _ 79% of respondents reported having five-speed gear boxes. When asked: ‘Do you ever find the car tends to ‘creep’ above the 30mph without you realising it?’ - 74% of those taking part in the poll answered ‘Yes’. They were then asked what gear they would normally be in to maintain a steady 30mph. In all, 54% of the drivers polled thought that they should be in either fourth or fifth gear.

Select gear that will give responsiveness
A simple solution for this problem is to select the most appropriate and flexible gear for the speed. This means following the well-established Advanced Driving maxim of ‘speed for the hazard - gear for the speed.’ In many cases, using an interim gear such as third will reduce the likelihood of creeping over the speed limit. This will also provide you with additional flexibility in terms of responsiveness and improving your acceleration sense.

Acceleration sense Acceleration sense is the ability to vary the speed of our car in relation to changing road and traffic conditions by accurate use of the accelerator, rather than brake. This is achieved by applying full concentration, careful observation, anticipation and good judgement of speed and distance.

This also provides additional comfort for your passengers as a result of a smoother driving style. In fact, it can be argued that using third gear when travelling at 50km/h or less actually improves fuel consumption because the throttle opening is less due to the correct balance between the gear and speed.

Advice courtesy of Irish Advanced Motorists www.irishadvancedmotorists.ie

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