Drivers in England warned to drive at 55mph NOT 70mph on motorways

Drivers can cut their fuel use by an eye-watering level - all by making one change on the motorway. Specialists at MotorEasy have indicated that reducing motorway speed from 70mph to 55mph can reduce fuel use by a staggering 25 per cent.

MotorEasy explained: "Cutting your motorway speed from the legal limit of 70mph to 55mph can reduce consumption by as much as 25 per cent." It added: "Be gentle with the throttle and brake, use moderate acceleration. Braking unnecessarily wastes energy. Look further ahead and leave bigger gaps to maintain steady momentum rather than constant breaking and accelerating which uses more fuel.

"Many modern cars have Eco driving modes, use these. If not, try to use as little acceleration as possible and if you are driving a manual car, change up earlier than you normally would; being in a higher gear means less load on the engine, and reduced fuel consumption.

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"Many modern cars can automatically switch engines off at traffic lights and when in traffic, this also helps reduce emissions. Make sure you use this feature. If your car doesn’t have it, get into the habit of manually switching off your car at longer hold traffic lights."

The RAC added: “The best advice is to drive as smoothly as possible, gently using the steering, accelerator and brakes. When slowing down, it’s important to remain in gear as the fuel cut-off switch in a fuel injection engine is then activated, meaning virtually no fuel is used while braking.

“Try to anticipate what’s going to happen in front of you by looking well ahead.” And the AA commented: “When the weather warms up, it’s very tempting to crack open a window to let more air in the car and cool you down. However, if you do this on the move it can have a negative effect on fuel economy, particularly at higher speeds.

“That’s because it creates more drag, which essentially means the car has to work harder to get up to speed, therefore using more fuel in the process.”