Holy hypermileage Batman!

Hello.

My name is Angelos, and I am a leadfoot. I firmly believe that speed limits are just a suggestion. I think that 75 is a good base speed, and from there it's up to weather and traffic conditions at the moment.

And yet here I am, in the "slow" lane, with the cruise control set to 70. Oh, sure, every now and then I crank it up to 72 to pass one of those really slow fuckers, but in general, I am now a slow-ass-driving motherfucker myself.

Why?

One reason and one reason only - the price of gas. It take me 5 minutes more each day to get to and from work, but I also am saving $12+ per week in gas money.

Funny thing is, it's not just me. EVERYONE is driving like a wuss. Just a year ago I tooled around doing 78-80 just about on every highway, and really had no fear of getting pulled over because half the cars were doing it with me. Now, I get nervous hitting 75 while passing because I'm actually standing out; that's usually the difference between a cop bothering to pull you over or not.

This has been going on for 4-5 months now, and I'm quite curious about the financial ramifications for local municipalities. Seriously, I see a lot more cops sitting in their hiding spots than actually pulling people over. What are they going to do, pull someone over for doing 69? (heh) Traffic tickets are a huge source of income to local governments, because even if you negotiate the original violation down to some lesser charge, there is always the $50 or so flat fee for the court. That income has to have been affected.

I ask my readers: are your eperiences similar?