Lawmakers learn eco- friendly driving
ST. PAUL -- Katie Sieben sat behind the wheel of a shiny new car, looking ahead to a traffic light.
"So I'm going to accelerate going up to the light?" she asked Todd Cook, teaching the Minnesota state senator about environmentally friendly driving.
"Shoot," Sieben, DFL-Cottage Grove, said before Cook could respond.
The light was yellow well before she hit the intersection, but she made it through before seeing red. Barely.
Then, as Sieben turned her Ford Fusion onto the interstate, Cook coaxed her to gradually accelerate, not pushing the gas pedal to the floor like most drivers who are merging onto a busy multi-lane highway.
Cook works for ProFormance, a Phoenix, Ariz., company that teamed with Ford Motor Co. to promote ecodriving, techniques designed to save gasoline. If every American driver used the techniques, federal estimates show 22 billion gallons of gasoline could be saved a year.
ProFormance's owner, Drew DeGrassi, said a recent study showed many drivers can improve gasoline mileage nearly 25 percent by doing things like Cook was teaching Sieben: drive smoothly, with no jerks; stop as seldom as possible, slowing down well in advance of red lights so the vehicle can keep going; and generally keeping the engine's revolutions per minute below 2,000.
Cook emphasized planning ahead as the best way to save gasoline.
For instance, two vehicles were at a stop sign Sieben was approaching. Cook suggested that she slow down enough that they would already be past the sign when she arrived. That way, he said, the Fusion only would need to stop once, and more importantly only need to start once.
DeGrassi brought several of his instructors to St. Paul Tuesday, where he joined with Minneapolis Democrats Sen. Scott Dibble and Rep. Frank Hornstein, who promoted a bill they plan to introduce in 2010 to require Minnesota driver's education classes to include ecodriving techniques.
"As a new generation of teenagers learn how to drive, it's important to teach driving skills they can use to drive safely, responsibly and efficiently throughout their lives." Hornstein said.
Some legislators took brief lessons in how to drive in an environmentally friendly way.
Rep. Michael Beard, R-Shakopee, said the tour around St. Paul city streets reminded him of what he learned years ago.
Sieben said she will work harder to accelerate smoothly and keep the tachometer showing RPM numbers of 2,000 or less.
Cook said too many drivers run engines too fast. He taught Beard and Sieben how to accelerate gradually from a stop, then let up on the gas pedal in their automatic-transmission car. That allows the transmission to shift into a higher, more fuel efficient, gear, he explained.
Don Davis works for Forum Communications Co., which owns the Bemidji Pioneer.
